Pokémon: Adventures in Sinnoh Chapter 15: Leaving No Evolution Stone Unturned, a pokémon fanfic

The path eventually became less treacherous; after the plateau, they passed through a small circle of closely-packed pine trees before emerging before a long log bridge that stretched over a huge, tumbling waterfall and onto another distant cliff. Coronet seemed impassable, never coming to an end no matter how far they seemed to walk; from the top, one could surely see all of Sinnoh. Looking down from the monolithic landmark, Nick stared nervously at the bridge they now had to pass. He stopped to consider their actions, but Pearl simply kept walking and took her first steps onto the rattling wood, a hand on the supporting rope and Kirlia by her side.

'Is it… safe?' he asked, trying to sound considerate and not afraid.

'Only one way to find out.' she threw back over her shoulder.

'I…' he muttered.

Though unconvinced by Pearl's sarcasm, he followed her. The logs creaked as his sneaker made contact with it, and he gulped.

Don't look down… don't look down…

No sooner had he thought this than he involuntarily looked down. The sound of the crashing water was deafening, a white mist obscuring where the fall hit the river. There were tiny gaps in the bridge under where he walked – a drop of a few hundred feet. He looked upwards, trying to ignore this fact, but the vastness of the sky was more disorientating. He dropped his head again and saw that Pearl was far ahead, almost at the other side. Not phased, she turned around.

'Would you hurry up? We'll never get to Hearthome at this rate!'

'I'm c-coming!' he shot back. He was too nervous at this moment to take Pearl's abrasiveness. Moving faster and holding onto the rope so tight that it burned his palm, he caught up with her and eventually made it onto land again. He found that adrenaline was coursing through his veins and, unexpectedly, felt richer for the experience and for overcoming his fears.

'That wasn't so bad.' he smiled, shaking.

'Hearthome is just down there.' she stated, paying no attention to him.

Nick looked to where she was pointing and saw a large church spire protruding from a stone city surrounded by trees. With the idea of another badge now at the forefront of his mind, he took the lead as Pearl now tried to catch up with him.

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The sky was a pallet of burning orange and mellow purple as they walked through the city gates, which consisted of bronze railings which spelled out HEARTHOME and spiralled into the shapes of hearts and leaves. A wall of pine trees, slightly darker than those surrounding Coronet, formed a wall around the stone buildings. A street of pebbledash-covered apartments guided them into the heart of town, where the Pokémon Centre sat opposite the church they had seen from the mountain. It was difficult to decide which one was the anachronism in the scene; Hearthome had managed to accommodate both the ancient-looking holy tower and the gleaming, marble Centre in its friendly corner of Sinnoh without anything looking out of place.

'Hearthome Church…' started Pearl, breaking the lazy silence, 'A place where people pay respects to and learn about the spirituality and mythology of the Pokémon world.'

'Cool… shall we have a look?' asked Nick.

'It'll be closed by now.' she affirmed. 'But we can look at the noticeboard outside.'

They strolled over to the wooden signs at the side of the building. From underneath it, the church seemed as tall as Coronet, and emanated a feeling of comfort. A poster was pinned to the board that read:

TOMORROW: EVOLUTION SOLUTIONS

A display of known evolutionary items and live examples of rare, evolved Pokémon. Starts 1 o'clock.

'Sounds great.' smiled Nick.

'Yes, obviously we should be attending events that will help with the Pokédex project.' she confirmed in her common abrasive tone. 'Anyway, let's get to the Pokémon Centre for the night.'

'Right behind you!'

'Tch…' sighed Pearl as they crossed the quiet road towards food and a bed for the night.

'That feels much better.' grinned Nick as he entered his bedsit, water dripping from his hair and a towel wrapped around his waist. Being out in the wilderness without a shower for days was not comfortable at all. Elekid and Shellder jumped excitedly at his return from the washroom. Nosepass was still in its Pokéball – he had not released it since its outburst earlier that day. He picked up the ball as he sat on the bed.

I wonder…

He pressed the button and it opened. Nosepass appeared and stared at him with its usual blank, expressionless charm.

'Are you okay now?' he asked.

'Nose-pah!' it chirped.

'What happened earlier?'

It looked down and sighed, as though remorseful but with no idea what had come over it.

'Well, don't worry. As long as you're okay.' the trainer smiled. The rock-type looked up again, content.

'Shell-der!'

'Elek!'

'Haha, and how are you guys?' he smiled, turning to his other two Pokémon. Their faces were easier to read, their expressions those of relaxation and happiness.

'Are you ready for a battle tomorrow?' he continued.

'Are you?' came a voice. He jumped in fright, thinking his companions had learned to talk. Turning, he saw Pearl, leaning on the doorway with her arms folded and her eyebrows raised. He shifted uncomfortably, making sure his towel was doing its job correctly.

'W-Wha?'

'Do you even know what you're up against? What type of Pokémon Fantina uses?'

'Fanti-?'

'The Hearthome Gym Leader.' snapped Pearl. 'She's a user of ghost and dark Pokémon.'

'Not more ghosts…' he groaned.

'None of your Pokémon have advantages against either of her types, and the Pokémon who are categorized as both ghost and dark have no weaknesses.' she explained, her devilish tone suggesting she was enjoying describing the difficulties he would face. 'Can you handle that?'

Nick looked to his Pokémon with an unsure crinkle of his nose. Elekid punched its fists together and crackled, Shellder frowned and ice particles glistened on its horns and Nosepass jumped a few inches from the ground, making the room shake as it landed. They were eager; their spirit ignited a fire in their trainer's heart and he nodded supportively to them as he returned them to their Pokéballs.

'Yes, I… no, we can handle that.' he smirked at Pearl. 'Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to dry myself off.'

She glowered at him and walked away, firmly shutting – but not exactly slamming – the door behind her.

I'll need to register for the Pokémon League tomorrow morning too, he remembered as he put on some nightwear and climbed into bed as the orange and purple became black.

He found the Gym Management Centre with ease the next morning – it was right beside the gym itself, which was signposted through the warm city streets. It was not dissimilar to the gym; a domed building with a thick, dark glass roof, but much smaller than its next door neighbour. A signpost outside advertised it as the place for trainers to enter themselves in the Sinnoh League. He looked at it, his stomach, for some reason, feeling as strange as it did when he looked into Gardenia's eyes. Pearl stood nonchalantly by his side, browsing her Pokédex entries.

'Coming in?' he asked nervously.

'No,' she replied, putting the device in her pocket, 'I'll go check out the gym and meet you in there.'

'Oh… okay.' he agreed, wishing that someone would accompany him into such an official, important situation. He stalled for a few moments as she walked away before taking a deep breath and entering, not knowing what to expect of the registration process. The sliding doors parted to reveal nothing but a spacious, red-carpeted room with pale walls decorated with portraits of gym leaders. They instantly caught his attention and he looked at each one: Cain was sitting on a rock, a stream flowing by his apathetic persona; Flannery stood surrounded by candles and soft lights; Olive – or Gardenia – was perched in a tree, holding a flower and looking to the sky. The rest were leaders who had since moved to other regions or retired. Only one other interested him – the one labelled Fantina – The Alluring, Soulful Dancer on a gold plaque. Her beauty was striking; older than the fire- and grass-type trainers, but dressed elegantly in a haunting purple dress, white gloves adorning her long, delicate arms that were pale but not unhealthy. He trembled with excitement at the prospect of a battle with her.

'Can I help you?'

He looked to the source of the nasally question; a skinny girl with a strange accent had appeared behind a counter, her jet-black hair tied back tightly.

'Oh, I want to…'

'Sign up for the League?' she finished, 'Take a form, fill it in, hand it back.'

He slowly approached her and picked up a sheet from the pile the woman was motioning at. She had looked away to a computer; it seemed she could not care less if he was there or not. He took a seat in a plush, velvet chair and filled in the form in his urgent-but-neat handwriting:

SINNOH LEAGUE REGISTRATION FORM

NAME: Nick Azalea
AGE: 16
GENDER: Male

HOMETOWN: Twinleaf Town, West Sinnoh

CURRENT POKÉMON: Elekid, Nosepass, Shellder
LEADERS DEFEATED PRIOR TO REGISTRATION (IF ANY) AND LOCATION: Cain (Oreburgh), Flannery (Mauheru), Gardenia (Eterna).

The rest of the form was labelled as being for office use. He timidly got to his feet and handed the sheet of paper back to the woman he did not particularly like. Without speaking, she snatched it from him, wrote hurriedly on the blank fields, then placed it in a drawer underneath where she sat. From the same space, she withdrew a camera-like device.

'Say cheese.'

Before he could react, he was blinded by a flash and, moments later, an unflattering picture of his face appeared on the computer screen. She then handed him a small business-like card on which she had scrawled his name and some sort of code.

'Okay, you're now entered in the Sinnoh League.' she stated firmly. 'The next tournament will be sometime next year and, if you have at least eight gym badges by then, you will be eligible to compete.'

'Thanks… What's this code for?' he asked.

'It's just your identification number. You'll need it when you arrive on Victory Island, where the competition is held.'

He took a moment to enter his ID on the Pokétch before slipping the card into his back pocket. He turned and left, smiling at the woman as he went, but, again, she wasn't looking.

He found Pearl standing outside the gym.

'I've got some good news for you.'

'What?' he replied, smiling.

'You can't get defeated by Fantina today. She's out of town and the gym is closed.'

His heart sank and his smile dropped. Looking to the gym, he saw a notice on the door confirming the leader's absence but giving no explanation as to where she had went.

'But… I need the badge…'

'Well, it's not happening anytime soon.' she sighed. 'You could always go to Woodsthrone and challenge their leader instead.'

He stood in a disappointed silence before eventually shrugging his shoulders and nodding.

'I suppose so.'

'Let's go to the display of evolutionary items.' she commanded and, with heavy footsteps, he followed her through the city.

The heavy doors of the church were open and they walked in. Nick was cautious but Pearl was collected. The inside room was huge, with countless wooden pews leading up to a magnificent marble altar. The stained glass window lent a spectrum of beautiful light to the room, the image in the centre resembling Mount Coronet. Two long, purple draped hung at either side of it, one depicting a bipedal dragon-like figure, the other showing a similar form but standing on four legs with a long neck. Several people were already sitting at the front of the room, with many more standing at the outsides of the room. Upon a long table sat a series of items, some remarkable-looking, some looking like nothing more than trash. They followed the aisle.

'It's like we're getting married.' joked Nick. She shot him a murderous glance; it was either because he had spoken aloud in such a hallowed place, or because he had suggested that they had shared any kind of bond. They took seats on the front pew. Moments later, a tall, balding man in a checkered shirt appeared from the crowd and stood beside the objects.

'Welcome one and all. Thank you for coming.' He began in a formal but friendly voice. 'My name is Leo. Today we will exhibit the items that cause certain – sometimes specific – Pokémon to evolve. We also have some live examples of such Pokémon, brought along by our esteemed trainer guests.'

He raised a hand to the four individuals standing by the wall: one was a short, pretty girl; one was a rotund, bearded man with tattooed arms; the next was the oldest, a grey-haired but clever-looing woman; the last was a mysterious man who wore a long, black trench coat and similar hat, round sunglasses concealing his eyes. All but the black-clad man smiled politely and nodded as the crowd turned to look at them.

'Pokémon evolve due to many different circumstances,' continued Leo, faces turning back to him, 'Most grow through time and experience, but some require the aid of items, surroundings, and even other factors…'

The man continued for a while and Nick listened intently. Eventually, their host called up the young girl.

'Sarah here is going to help us demonstrate a live Pokémon evolution using these.' he smiled, picking up shining stones of various colours. 'These are water, fire and thunder stones, capable of making Pokémon of those types evolve on contact. Sarah, if you will…'

The girl nodded and threw a Pokéball into the air. In a flash, a small, cute canine-like creature with a fluffy mane appeared.

'Now, this Pokémon, Eevee, is of the normal-type,' lectured Leo as the trainer lifted the animal, 'But it holds the distinction of being able to evolve into seven different Pokémon, three of which are the result of these elemental stones.'

Nick looked on excitedly; he was about to see a second evolution in two days. He glanced to Pearl, whose stare did not leave the Eevee.

'And now,' continued Leo, knowing he had the audience in the palm of his hand, 'Which of the stones will you use, Sarah?'

The young girl looked to Eevee and smiled. It smiled back at her.

'The thunder stone.' she said with a charming giggle. Lifting the yellow rock from Leo's hand, she looked at it for a moment before holding it against Eevee's cheek. At first, nothing happened, but then the little Pokémon closed its eyes and dazzling light surrounded it as it leapt from its trainer's arms. Moments later, a similar-looking creature stood in its place, only now with yellow fur that spiked out like lightning bolts. Nick excitedly took out his Pokédex:

'Jolteon, the Lightning Pokémon. One of the seven possible evolutions of Eevee, it uses electricity to make its sharp fur stand on end, which it can then launch as missiles.'

I guess you get Flareon if you use the fire stone, he thought, remembering his battle with Flannery.

'Thank you.' grinned Leo. Nick looked up to find all eyes on him; the Pokédex had been louder than he had thought. He laughed nervously. Sarah looked overjoyed as she hugged her newly-evolved pet, and together they took a seat.

'Next up,' he began again, 'We would like to demonstrate the Dragon Scale.'

As he held up a large, sharp, light-blue scale, the tough-looking tattooed man approached him and released a tall, powerful-looking seahorse creature from a Pokéball.

'The Dragon Scale, when given to Seadra, induces evolution,' explained the bearded trainer, 'The result… Kingdra. It has the power to create tornadoes at sea.'

There were approving murmurs and camera flashes between those in attendance. Nick kept the Pokédex open, recording the information. He thought back to his battle with Golding in Oreburgh and was glad he had faced off against Seadra and not this more sinister sea monster. The man recalled it and returned to his position by the wall.

'The next Pokémon is popular in professional battling,' grinned Leo. 'Imelda, if you would.'

The elderly woman joined the lecturer, a Pokéball in her hand. She was weatherbeaten but not frail. Nick sat forward slightly, intrigued as to what he might face at the Pokémon League one day.

'Please welcome our very special guest, Imelda, a retired member of the Elite Four.'

There was a round of applause that Nick apprehensively joined.

'Elite Four?' he whispered to Pearl.

'The top trainers in the region,' she explained, proud to show off her knowledge, 'Winners of the tournament go on to face them. If you win, you become a Champion.'

Nick looked back, clapping louder and for a few more seconds than everyone else. She lifted a shining, silver coil from the display table.

'The Metal Coat is a natural cuff of metal that will boost a steel-type Pokémon's attack power in battle,' began Imelda. Her voice was calm, but carried assurance of a worldly knowledge and expertise in competitive battling, 'However, when attached to the bug-type Scyther, it causes it to evolve into Scizor.'

No sooner had she announced the creature's name than the Pokéball that she was carrying opened and a tall Pokémon appeared. Its body was blood-red and looked as hard as steel, an intimidating, spiked head sitting on an almost-human but insect-looking body. Razor-sharp wings protruded from its back, and its long arms ended in huge pincers that looked like scary faces themselves. There was a gasp from the audience, several of them sitting back in their chairs to increase their distance from it.

'Don't worry,' grinned Imelda, 'It won't hurt you unless I tell it to.'

She looked at the terrified crowd, who were now essentially at her mercy.

'Scizor is a dual bug- and steel-type Pokémon. Its claws are used to intimidate its foes into defencelessness before metal-strength offence powers up its signature attacks like X-Scissor.'

On these words, the creature sprang into motion. It leapt high into the air, crossed its arms and opened them to release a burning, cross-shaped wave of power. Cameras flashed and people moved a few more inches away. Pearl gazed longingly at it, its style and strength evidently having an impact on her. The demonstration of items continued, but only one trainer remained in the wings with a live example to show – the mysterious man. His chance to shine was announced when Leo carefully lifted a small red box, the inside of which smouldered and hissed.

'Our final guest of the evening, Mr. Sidian, is going to demonstrate a live evolution for us by using the Magmarizer to make his Magmar turn into Magmortar.'

Mr. Sidian approached the front of the room in silence and, in a blaze of flame, released the brightly-coloured fire-type. He stood looking at the audience, saying nothing, his eyes completely hidden in darkness.

'…If you would?' smiled Leo, hinting that it should have been obvious that the black-clad man could begin anytime. A few more moments of silence passed before Mr. Sidian spoke softly.

'Smog.'

Instantly, Magmar spat out a cloud of thick, black smoke that grew rapidly and, within seconds, filled the entire room.

'What's going on?' spluttered Nick, trying to get to his feet but blinded for the second time today by the burning smog.

'He's… a thief!' cried Pearl, coughing in pain.

The panic and confusion went on for several minutes before the cloud of filth was lifted by a sudden gust. Visibility regained, they saw that Kingdra had used its Twister attack to dissipate that of Magmar. There were gasps and cries of anger as everyone noticed the table of evolutionary items had been completely cleared and Mr. Sidian nowhere to be seen.

'He took the items!' bellowed Leo, now quite intimidating, 'The precious items! Gone!'

'Let's go after him!' growled Pearl, pushing Nick to his feet angrily.

'Wait, be careful! You don't know what he's capable of!' called Sarah, her Jolteon snarling. Leo, Imelda and the beard-wearer agreed and raised warning hands as they stepped towards the trainers but, before anyone could stop them, Nick and Pearl had dashed out the church doors, their series of all-too-often acts of heroism increasing by one as they chased the thief.