Chapter 4: Nora and the Prophecy.
The journey back through Telnor Cave was not very pleasant. Not that it would've been any more so if there wasn't the constant annoyance of Arena Trap Diglett constantly getting in his way. However, the payoff only made Moon jump for joy as he exited the cave into Route 1.
He made his way across the route nonchalantly, occasionally getting jumped by Bunnelby or trainers looking for a scuffle. However, they were no match for Satanel and Sunny's combined power. He was about to enter Minda town until he was stopped by a hiker.
"Can I…help you sir? Do you want to have a battle?"
"Ah no, I'm completely wiped out by the Pokemon on this route." The hiker said, wiping a bit of sweat off his head. "I've been searching for a Totodile, and heard you could sometimes find them here on this route. But I haven't seen a single one. My daughter loves that Pokemon, and I wanted to get her one as her first Pokemon. Do you think you could help me?"
"Totodile huh?" Moon asked. When the hiker nodded he agreed. Totodile was an interesting Pokemon to see in the wild. It was one of the starters of Johto and quite a beloved favorite. Knowing it could just casually be found here in Torren was a surprise.
He left the hiker to his own business and began searching around the route for him. Eventually, after about an hour, he eventually found two by a pond near the clearing where he could see a house. Telling him this was near Midna town.
"Satanel, finish them with Twister!" Moon commanded.
"Char Char! MANDER!" Satanel twirled its tail as a blue twister was summoned from its tail. It flung the twister at two wild Totodile, who were swept up in the twister and they both collided with one another. Both tiny blue crocodiles fell to the ground with swirls in their eyes.
Moon took out two Pokeballs and tossed them at both Totodile. He watched in anticipation as both balls wiggled back and forth before dinging shut.
"Lucky to have two…eh Satanel?" He asked, looking at the Delta Charmander.
"Char Char, Mand?!" Satanel's eyes widened as blue light began to surround it as its body expanded. Making Moon jump back in shock.
"Wow?! Already?" he asked. "Well…it is Charmander I suppose, it does evolve at 16."
The blue light faded as Satanel let out a roar. His boney skeletal body had now become a blackish bone color. It still resembled Charmeleon, however, its two little horns were now four, with a large one in the center. Satanel's mouth also had sharper teeth.
"Char Char! MeleoN!" Satanel roared. As blue flames spewed from its mouth. Moon watched as a shadow appeared on the ground, before it moved forward and Satanel teleported on top of the new location of the shadow.
"Awesome! You learned Shadow Sneak! Give me just a second to check you out. Gotta be sure there's something." Moon quickly scanned the Charmeleon with his pokedex.
Charmeleon (Delta Species)
Type: Dragon and Ghost
Ability: Spirit Call
Info: Its claws tear into its foe's spirit. When facing powerful opponents, the flame on its tail gives off the appearance of a face.
Moon shrugged, nothing particularly noteworthy, but he supposed that was to be expected. He returned Satanel to his PokeBall and made his way back to the hiker, who was now sitting on a rock near the cave entrance.
"Did ya find them kid?" he asked hopefully.
"I did," Moon replied, handing the man one of the pokeballs containing the captured Totodile.
The hiker's face brightened as he took the Pokeball. "And you're giving it to me?! Thanks kid! I feel like I should give you something in exchange."
Moon flushed. "No, it's alright…you don't-"
"No, I insist, here." The hiker reached into his backpack and took out a pokeball. "I initially caught this for my daughter. But it feels wrong to have asked you to catch a Pokemon for me. I'm sure you'll like it. One like this is quite hard to come by."
"Oh that's not really-"
"No, I insist, it'll be happier with you."
Just nodding his head, Moon took the Pokeball and waved goodbye to the hiker. Making his way to Midna Town. Where he was greeted with Damian stepping out of the Pokemon Center. The boy waved eagerly to him as he approached him.
"Hey Moon!" Damian smiled. "Like I said, we do need one last thing before we can start our journey's. It's not technically necessary, but we should probably go check out the Trainer's School. I was there earlier, they were going to do some tournaments. But one of the kids, I think the teacher said her name was Nora, hasn't showed up. She went into Midna Mines to do some training. She should be back soon though, so I recommend you join us. I've been training."
"I'll be there, don't worry." Moon assured the boy. He waved goodbye to Damian before walking inside the Pokemon Center. After he healed his team of Pokemon, he decided to check out the Pokemon the hiker had given him.
He released the Pokemon, and out came a Pokemon that resembled a Dwebble. The crab part of the little bug looked the same, with the notable exception of the fact it was now bright bubblegum pink.
However, the rock on its back was not a rock, in fact, it looked like a vanilla cake with a cherry on top. It even smelled like cake! Curiously, he knelt down and rubbed what should've been frosting, only to find it was, in fact, phony. When he withdrew his finger, he found the Delta Dwebble looking quite amused as it giggled.
"Alright Mr. Funny Guy." he said sarcastically. He took out his Pokedex and scanned the Pokemon.
Dwebble (Delta [Cake] Species)
"Cake Species?" Moon questioned. "Is there a second variant of this Delta?"
Species: Cupcake Pokemon
Type: Normal and Fairy
Possible Abilities: Own Tempo, Scrappy, or Simple
Known Moves: Pound, Fairy Wind, Powder Snow, Mist, Sweet Scent, and Chip Away.
Information: A Delta Species similar to the Pokemon Dwebble that was discovered by DankRabbit. It entices strangers with its sweet scent, taking offense if they do not immediately attempt to taste its frosting. However, scientists believe there to be two variants of this Delta Species, thus, it has been dubbed, Cake Form Dwebble.
Well, there was the answer. Moon simply shrugged his shoulders as he returned Delta Dwebble to her Pokeball. He made his way to the exit of the center, but not before overhearing two adults talking.
"Yeah, that prodigy at the Trainers' School, Nora. What a pain she's been."
"I know, she's outshined our kids to the teacher to no degree. Don't know why she hasn't left yet. Now she's gone back into Midna Mines. People keep hearing the cries of what they swear are ancient fossil Pokemon when she's down there."
Moon raised an eyebrow before leaving the center. He figured he might as well go check out the mines since Damian said Nora hadn't shown up to the school. Seeing an ancient fossil Pokemon would be cool.
(Center of Midna Mine)
Just like Telnor Cave before it. The journey through this mine was even more irritating, not helped by the swarms of Zubats in their natural cave life. Moon groaned in exhaustion, wondering how on Earth Nora even managed to get through here on her own.
Eventually, he found himself in the center of the mine, where he finally found the girl. And boy was he in for quite the shock.
Firstly, the girl had long green hair and a pink bow with two silver looking fairyish wings on the side. She wore a long green shirt and a dark blue skirt. Her green shoes were completed by white high socks that covered most of her legs up to her knees. She appeared to be the same age as him.
That was the normal part. What stunned him was the little Pokemon she had next to her. It was a small pink fairy with tiny wings and bright blue eyes and two little antennae with blue tips. The mythical Pokemon Celebi.
"Alright Celebi, I've got the fossils in place right here!" Nora's voice was slightly confident but a bit quiet. "You can do this, I believe in you! Move those fossils through time!"
"Bi Celebi!" The mythical pixie's eyes flashed as a bunch of white light surrounded the area. Moon watched as four rocks sprung to life, and in their place were the fossil Pokemon Omastar, Kabutops, Almardo, and Bastiodon.
Celebi spun around as Nora jumped up. "You did it Celebi! I'm so proud of you! All our hard work finally paid off! I can't believe how far we've-" Her eyes finally fell on Moon, and he had never seen someone's joy fade faster. The girl glanced over at Celebi, who didn't look entirely as fearful as the girl did.
"You! How much did you see?!" Nora asked. Moon could hear panic in the girl's voice. Remembering what Mew told him about legendaries like it. He decided to just play it off.
"I saw you magically bring the fossils back to life. I know fossil revival is a thing. But I thought you needed technology."
The girl basically looked ready to collapse onto the floor as he watched Celebi fly over and pat her on the head.
"Look…I don't know who you are. But you can't tell anyone about this. Okay?! I'd be in grave danger."
"Sounds like you could use a little help here." Moon and Nora both flinched. "Sometimes honesty is the best policy Moon. Especially when it comes to others like us."
"Uh…what was that?" Nora asked.
In a blink, the blue cat appeared above Moon as well. The mythical blue cat giggled as Nora's own eyes widened in surprise.
"Bi Bi Celi!" The pink Celebi twirled around and floated over to Mew.
Nora turned back to Moon. "You…you were chosen by Mew?" She asked. "I…I thought I was the only one left."
Moon blinked. "Uh…what?" he asked.
Nora's blue eyes softened. "Oh…um…I should probably explain…I assume it's safe too. Nobody else came with you, right?" Moon just shook his head.
"Okay…so. From what I understand, a long time ago, there was some sort of prophecy written about Torren. Nobody really knows what it says word for word. It talks about the cults and the Augur. It basically said that a person chosen by a Pixie Legendary would rise up and defeat the cults, being crowned, "The Augur of Torren."
"But…Jaern is the Augur…and he's the protector of Rayquaza…isn't he?" Moon asked.
Nora frowned. "Well, technically yes, but Rayquaza isn't a Pixie Legendary. The Pixie Legendaries are like…the messengers of Arceus, you know, Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Victini and others like them? The Protectors, or Keepers like Jaern is known as, are the balancers for Arceus, like Rayquaza, Raikou, and Darkrai. Basically, the Pokemon the cults would be interested in."
"I see…" Moon replied.
"Everyone assumed our First Augur would be the one the Prophecy referred to, because he was chosen by Hoopa. But…now that he's gone…we've got Jaern, and since Rayquaza isn't a Pixie, I don't think he's chosen by anyone. Plus…we've never actually seen Jaern with Rayquaza. Unlike how the first Augur always had Hoopa around him."
"And that would explain why they want us out of the way and why you're afraid." Moon replied. "You think its about you?" That explained why Persephone likely wanted him dead.
Nora's face flushed red. "Well…I never really Thought it was about me. I know I had Celebi. But even as a so-called "Prodigy Trainer." that I'm known as in my hometown. I don't think I'd have the skills necessary to take down the Cults until I was older…if there even is an opportunity to get older that is. That's why I keep Celebi a secret, not even my own family knows about it. Don't tell me you've been flaunting Mew around to people?!"
Mew giggled as Nora looked between the two Pixies and Moon.
"Yeah…Mew hasn't joined my team yet. It said I still needed to get stronger first. Though they did give me this flute." Moon pulled the quartz flute necklace out from his hidden shirt to show her.
Nora frowned. "I see, I suppose it's still worried something bad might happen."
Mew waved goodbye to the two trainers and Celebi before it vanished again. Nora blinked a bit, before returning her pink Celebi to its Pokeball.
"Well, you've certainly given me a scare…Moon." she said, crossing both her arms. "I got lucky that it was just you. What are you even doing down here? Nobody really ever comes down here."
"Uh…the Trainer's school said they weren't starting the tournament until you came back."
The girl's eyes widened in realization. "Crap…you're right. I completely forgot. Today was supposed to be my last day here."
"Well…would you like to journey out of here together?" Moon asked. "No offense, but my team is pretty beat up."
"Sure, we can do that." Nora replied. "After the tournament, I'd like you to accompany me for a bit. There are some ruins east of here on the way to Suntouched City I'd like to check out." Moon raised his eyebrows, making the girl's face go red again.
"No…not like a date." she replied grumpily. "But…since we're both Pixie Keepers, it'd be best we have some sort of mutual friendship-rivalry to make sure we're always prepared."
The tournament at the trainer's school went well in the first round. Moon had no trouble removing his first opponent with ease. However, his next opponent, Damian, was another story.
The white haired boy smiled as Moon stepped up to the battlefield. "Hope you're ready, Moon. I'm not going down easily."
"3 Pokemon allowed this Battle…BEGIN!"
"Go on Corphish!"
"Satanel, Battle Stance."
Delta Charmeleon rose from the Pokeball and let out a cry as Damain's Corphish developed on the ground.
"Satanel, use Scratch!"
"Harden! Then use Knock Off!"
Corphish's body glowed as Satanel's claws bounced against its tough shell. Then, its pincer grew in size as it prepared to counter attack.
"Shadow Sneak!"
Santanel disappeared as Crophish slammed its pincer against the ground before it uppercut the lobster from the shadowy portal on the ground.
"Twister, while it's stunned!" Moon commanded. Satanel's tail twirled around as the blue flamed twister emerged from its tail. It swung the twister at the lobster, knocking it against the wall where it fell to the ground. Damian quickly returned it.
"Alright Wartortle, go get 'em!" Damian released his newly evolved Delta Wartortle. As Moon anticipated, it looked just like Delta Squirtle with the ninja mask.
"Satanel, come bac-"
"Use Pursuit!" The delta Wartortle jumped up and viciously slapped Satanel backwards, the ghost Charmeleon fell back to the ground before Moon returned it.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised." He muttered.
"Shortcake, Battle Stance!" He released the Delta Dwebble from its Pokeball and the little cupcake crab braced itself.
"Wartortle, use Withdraw!"
"Shortcake, Fairy Wind!"
Wartortle withdrew itself into his shell as Shortcake unleashed a misty wind from its cake cherry the wind blew the shelled in ninja turtle backwards, but Wartortle popped right back out.
"Vacuum Wave!"
Delta Wartortle spun its shell around creating a vortex vacuum. Shortcake put her pincers into the ground as it avoided being sucked in and looked over to Moon.
"Mist! Then use Chip Away!"
Shortcake nodded her buggy head and unleashed a pink cloud of mist from its cherry top. Covering the battlefield from both trainers. There was a loud smash and a gust of wind which blew the mist away, revealing both Delta Pokemon lying on the ground.
Moon sighed as he returned Shortcake as Damian returned his own Delta Wartortle.
"Alright! Luxio! Go Get 'em!" Damian shouted as an electric looking blue and black lion with a lighting bolt for a tail emerged from the Pokeball.
"Guess he doesn't want to use Eevee." Moon said to himself. He eyed Nora watching both of them with particular interest in the corner.
"Alright Sunny, Battle Stance."
The little brown Eevee jumped out of his Pokeball in joy.
"Luxio! Tackle!" The lion brushed its paw against the ground before charging at Sunny as its eyes glowed red in anger.
"Sand Attack! Then use Wish!" Sunny turned around and kicked sand into the charging lion's eyes, making it howl out as it kept going, Sunny then rolled out of the way as Luxio rushed right past them.
"Vee Vee!" Sunny chanted up as light surrounded him, and a shooting star shot over the field in the middle of the day.
"Luxio! Charge into Spark!" Damian commanded. "Make the wish mean nothing!"
"Surround yourself using Swift! Then Quick Attack!" Sunny nodded as he summoned stars around his tiny little brown furry body before rushing at high speed. Luxio, with its eyes shut, let out a howl as electricity surrounded its fur, before it became a circular ball of lighting and rushed in the direction of Sunny's cry.
Both Pokemon collided with each other and the battle field once again became surrounded in dust. However, the signal of the wish melody told Moon that this battle was likely over.
He was proven correct, as the dust cleared, revealing Sunny standing on top of the defeated Luxio with a happy smile.
"And third place goes to Damian!" The Teacher said. "Congratulations to Moon, Our newcomers were quite strong. But…is the better of the bunch good enough to beat our top champion Nora?" Moon noted the blush on Nora's face as the teacher finished.
"Heal up your team and get back on the field Moon."
The final round of the tournament had gotten there, and Moon faced Nora on the opposing side of the field. The girl didn't seem flustered nor serious. But she also wasn't as smiley as Damian.
"Four Pokemon you two, Battle…Begin!"
"Sewaddle! Let's go!" Nora tossed out a little caterpillar with a leaf around its head and body.
Moon frowned, he never thought he'd say he didn't actually feel comfortable against a bug and grass type.
"Irwin! Battle Stance!"
His freshly caught Totodile emerged from its Pokeball and did a happy little dance.
"Sewaddle! Use Razor Leaf!"
"Dragon Dance! Then Ice Punch!" Moon said.
Irwin dodged the barrage of sharp leaves from the little bug. He then did another dance on his toes in the shape of a dragon skull as red light surrounded his body.
"String Shot!"
Irwin jumped over the string shot out by the little bug's mouth before surrounding his claw with ice and viciously punching the little caterpillar. Sewaddle flew backwards and past Nora before collapsing.
"Zubat! Go on!" Nora sent out the little annoying blue bat that had tortured Moon within the cave looking for her. Almost like a cheeky way of remembering.
"Wing Attack!"
"Ice Punch!"
The small bat's wings glowed as it rushed towards Irwin. The small Totodile braced itself as it took the attack. It bit Zubat with its mouth and quickly punched it with its icey claw fist once again. Just like his teammate before him. Nora's Zubat was sent the way of Sewaddle.
Okay, now Nora looked incredibly flustered. Moon wondered how much of a challenge she was actually giving him.
"Go on Trapinch!" Nora sent out a little orange Antillon looking Pokemon that made Moon slightly jealous. He wanted to know where she got it.
"Aqua Jet Irwin!"
"Use Bulldoze!" Nora commanded.
Irwin surrounded itself in a jetstream of water before rushing down the little antillon. Trapinch growled as it stomped its foot against the ground, and quickly shut down as Irwin tripped on the shaking ground and slid into Trapinch without the water to hurt it.
"Sand Tomb! Then Rockslide!"
A sandy Tornado surrounded Irwin and lifted the poor crocodile into the air. Then, large boulders appeared out of thin air and smashed the Totodile back into the ground.
Irwin lifted himself back up and growled a little.
"Torrent Range." Moon whispered. "Aqua Jet!"
Irwin surrounded itself with water again, much more than last time, and rushed into Trapinch viciously, sending the antillon Pokemon against the wall of the battlefield.
Nora returned Trapinch and let out a sigh. "This is it for me then…isn't it?" Moon raised an eyebrow before she let a Quilava out of it a hiss as it leered Totodile down.
The battle concluded as one expected. Nora's Quilava went down pretty swiftly to Irwin, who had evolved into Croconaw in the proceeding aftermath.
"Spectacular job Moon!" The Teacher said to him. "The battle between you and Nora was incredible! I was on the edge of my seat-"
"The battle between Moon and I was good too, right?"
"No." The teacher said, ignoring Damian before walking away, leaving the three kids at the exit.
"So…that was eventful?" Nora said, "You were much stronger than I expected, and…for the record uh…"
"Damian…" the boy said. Moon sensed the disappointment in his voice.
"Right…I thought you did much better than me. After all, I didn't even get past the Totodile, at least you took out two of his Pokemon."
"Thanks…I guess." Damian replied. "Hey…since we're all rivals now. How about we race to Suntouched City? The first gym is there right?"
"Yeah…we can do that. It'll be fun." Nora agreed. "The Gym Leader, Orion, runs Sun Team gym. So he'll be quite the challenge.
"Great! I'll catch you two later!" Damian took off, leaving both of them in the dust.
"Well…in that case." Nora turned to Moon. "Shall we make our way to the ruins?" Moon nodded his head and followed the girl out of town.
The results are in, thank you to those that sent me PMs or left their own advice on this story. The decision has been finalized, Moon will be using a mixed Team of Pokemon.
Now, because there are quite a few Delta Pokemon you can get prior to beating the Champion, this team will end up being very, very large. So, I thought I'd do something a bit special for this fic. I'll be novelizing the game based on my own expierence modeled after my very first playthrough of the game. So any Pokemon I used in important battles, because Insurgence has so many of them. I'll be adding them on-board and swapping out various intervals.
A few things of note, I am well aware that you cannot obtain Delta Dwebble or Totodile until after meeting Nora, of which Totodile can be found on the next route to capture and trade. However, to make it a bit more intuitive, I decided to just have Moon capture them here.
Speaking of Nora and Damian, a few of you are probably wondering how I'll handle their teams since I bended the rules. and gave Moon both Eevee and Delta Charmander.
Technically nothing really changes between their teams. Damian will just use Eevee or whichever starter is type advantaged against yours. And as for Nora, you only battle her twice (technically 3 but it's an optional fight where you choose either her or Damian). And strangely, despite only battling her twice, you never battle either of your rivals with a full team of 6 until the post-game. So by giving Moon both starters, I can give them a team of 6 inadvertently.
I find this awkward, because, in the optional fight with Nora during the first-half of the game, she uses five Pokemon. Her teams in the two mandatory battles consist of the Sewaddle line, Honedge line, Trapinch line, Celebi, Floette, and a Johto starter of the same type as what the non-delta kanto starter you picked would've been. Or Golbat with Eevee. The Johto Starter or Golbat get trashed before the 3rd fight for no reason.
Anyway, that's about it for this chapter. Thank you for the advice and opinions selected about Moon's teambuilding, I hope the rest of the story meets up to your expectations.
See you, all next time!
Moon's Team
Sunny - Eevee
Satanel - Charmeleon (Delta)
Irwin - Croconaw
Shortcake - Dwebble (Delta)
