Well... it's all downhill from here : )

Hey guys : ) This is very bittersweet to say, but we are nearing the end of the Pokemon Fire Red Nuzlocke. I can't believe it - it feels like I only just started it : )

I have now successfully crossed through Victory Road in the game, which means that the check point I put in the rules has now been hit. From now on in the game, if I lose a Pokemon, it will not have any bearing on this story, and that Pokemon will remain with Nolan, as per the rules listed in the footnote of chapter one.

I cannot believe that I only lost two Pokemon in the entire game up until this point, but at the same time, it's kind of annoying since both of them were preventable and I could have kept everyone. One of them was lost to poison damage after an Acid attack in the fight against Erika's Vileplume. Yeah, I sailed through Sabrina's gym with no loses, but Erika of all people cost me a teammate : (

The other loss was completely my own fault. I got arrogant and thought I could easily beat my rival in Silph Co. with just one high level Pokemon and was instantly proved very wrong. I literally had to pick to sacrifice someone or else I probably would have lost everyone. Needless to say, I learned from that mistake and didn't get arrogant again XD

So those two Pokemon will be exiting Nolan's team, but that's all from the original Kanto gang. And speaking of Nolan's original Kanto team, I think it's time I announce the last teammate. I'm very pleased to say that the winner of the latest vote was... Scyther! Honestly, no surprises there since let's face it, everyone loves Scyther : ) I kinda wish I could have gotten more in-game time with him, but it's still cool I can give Nolan one in the story : )

Anyway, I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. Your continuous support means a great deal, so thank you : )

Finally, please remember that Pokemon does not belong to me, only my OCs do.

I hope you enjoy this chapter : )

Operation Iris - Part 5

It didn't take long for Officer Jenny and the others to come up with a new plan of action, building upon and revising the original strategy that she had come up with when first creating Operation Iris. After several long talks, and enough bickering to last a lifetime, everyone had their assignments, though of course some people were happier than others about the ones they got. Officer Douglas, for example, had stubbornly wanted to continue to assist with the search, insisting that he felt alright now, but Officer Jenny had been quick to shoot that idea down in flames. The man was in dire need of medical attention and a nice long rest. Period. The young man had naturally tried protesting when she had ordered him back to Pewter City, but one stern look had been enough to silence the sickly looking officer.

Accompanying him would be Officers Anthony and Sammy, who were less than thrilled about this decision as well. Officer Anthony couldn't believe that children would be involved in an active police search, whilst he, an actual police officer, was going to basically be babysitting one of his colleagues at the hospital. He had been very vocal about his indignation, no surprises there. Officer Sammy on the other hand didn't mind that aspect of her assigned duty in the slightest. She just didn't want to have to trek all the way out of the Viridian Forest listening to Officer Anthony's ranting and raving. She, along with everyone else, had had all she could take of the obnoxious officer for one day. But whilst sympathetic to the other woman's plight, Officer Jenny had quickly put an end to any of their protests, stressing the importance of getting Officer Douglas a check up at the hospital, whilst also firmly reminding her officers that they didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing which assignments they wanted. So with instructions to be extra vigilant on their way out of the forest, and to check in with Officer Jenny when reaching the hospital, it wasn't long before the three police officers left in the direction of Pewter City, Officers Anthony and Sammy supporting Officer Douglas between them. Within seconds they had disappeared into the vast array of green, and when they couldn't hear the sounds of Officer Anthony's angry grumbling anymore, they knew that they had gone.

It was kind of a relief because it meant that they were now done with the self-righteous obnoxious man, hopefully for a very, very long time.

That left Officers Jenny, Charlie and Rick in the forest clearing where Douglas had unfortunately been attacked, along with Nolan, Ash and Misty, as well as their beloved Pokemon of course. Three officers and three children. That made dividing them all up into pairs very straightforward, since as the officer in charge of Operation Iris, Officer Jenny was adamant that after what had happened to Officer Douglas, nobody should be out in the forest on their own until after this situation was resolved. She also didn't want children, regardless of the fact that they were all fully licensed trainers, looking for this mysterious Pokemon without proper adult supervision either.

And so that was how Ash found himself transversing the area west of the attack site with Officer Charlie.

The two of them were carefully scouring their section of Operation Iris' search radius, looking for anything suspicious that might be a potential clue. A companionable silence had fallen over the duo, but it wasn't long before that was broken, surprisingly by Officer Charlie as opposed to Ash himself.

"So tell me Ash, I'm curious" Officer Charlie said as a means of breaking the ice, "How come you and your friends are travelling through the Viridian Forest? Where were you actually heading before you guys got caught up in all this?"

The raven haired boy was certainly surprised that the police woman wanted to make small talk at a time like this, but he smiled up at her nevertheless.

"We were on our way to Pewter City so that Nolan and I can challenge the gym there when all this started" Ash explained, before a somewhat irritated expression flashed across his face, "Or at least we were trying to get there until Nolan got us lost".

Officer Charlie raised a surprised eyebrow at him.

"You guys were just wandering around the forest and happened to find Officer Douglas? Talk about lucky" the platinum blonde haired woman shook her head in amazement, "If you guys hadn't found him, he could have ended up seriously ill or worse. I guess it just goes to show that something good really can come out of something bad".

The irritated expression disappeared off of Ash's face and instead became one that was much more thoughtful.

"I suppose that's true" the raven haired boy couldn't help but agree with Officer Charlie's words, "And if Nolan actually manages to get a new teammate out of all this then it was definitely worth losing a whole day's travelling time".

Officer Charlie smiled and nodded down at him.

"It sure was nice of you to allow your friend the chance to try and capture this mysterious Pokemon when you wanted to do so yourself" Officer Charlie remarked kindly, and Ash blushed slightly at the praise, "There's not many kids your age that would be so willing to sacrifice something they want for themselves like that".

Ash shrugged his shoulders modestly in response.

"Nolan's done the same for me recently" the raven haired boy informed her, thinking about when he had captured Pidgeotto, and when he had tried to capture that Weedle before it all ended in disaster, "More than once actually, so it was only fair that I back off now that he wants to catch a new Pokemon".

"I still think that's a really mature response" Officer Charlie commended and Ash couldn't help but beam, a little bit proud of himself, "You two must be really good friends".

"The very best" Ash nodded his head, smiling fondly as he thought about the golden haired boy. Whilst they might bicker quite a lot, there was also genuine care and affection between the two of them, "He's more like a brother to me than anything".

Officer Charlie smiled warmly upon hearing that, and opened her mouth to say more. Before she had even the chance to utter so much as a single syllable though, their conversation was interrupted, as trouble found them once more.

THUD!

Quite suddenly and without any kind of warning whatsoever, something bright green dropped down from the branches of a nearby tree, and collided directly with Officer Charlie's head. The young woman grunted in pain, and clutched at her now throbbing head, staggering slightly where she stood.

"Woah!" Ash gasped in alarm, throwing out his arm to help steady the slightly dazed police officer, "Are you alright?!"

Officer Charlie groaned, but weakly nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine" the platinum blonde police woman said, lowering her hand from her aching head, "What was that?!"

"No idea" Ash murmured, his face twisting into a frown as he turned his focus to the falling green projectile for the first time. Looking down into the tall grass at their feet, both Ash's and Officer Charlie's eyes widened in surprise at what they saw. For lying at their feet in the grass was a Pokemon. But not just any Pokemon, but a Pokemon that Ash was more than a little familiar with.

"It's a Caterpie!" the raven haired boy exclaimed in shock.

It was.

Curled up on the ground at their feet was a Caterpie.

It looked to be a little smaller than the one Ash had caught before he had evolved, but its small stature wasn't what was so off-putting about the little Bug Type Pokemon that had quite literally fallen into their laps. No, what was so note-worthy about this Caterpie, was the fact that it was extremely pale and very sick-looking. Add in the fact that the poor creature was in a deep sleep, and that a pretty Iris flower had been woven through the Caterpie's antenna, and it didn't take a genius to work out what the problem was.

"Oh dear" Officer Charlie sighed tiredly as realisation set in. Ash opened his mouth to comment on her response, but before he had the chance to, Pikachu noticed something.

"Pika! Pikapi!" the small yellow Pokemon cried, pointing upwards with his tiny paw.

Wondering what else could possibly be causing a problem now, Ash and Officer Charlie both looked up to see what Pikachu was pointing to. To their joint horror, they saw two more Caterpie falling down from the same tree that the other one had fallen out of. Officer Charlie quickly grabbed on to Ash's arm and used it to drag him backwards, saving them both from being hit by the falling Bug Type Pokemon. The two additional Caterpie landed harmlessly on the ground at the two humans' feet. They were both in much the same condition as the first Caterpie.

"Two more Caterpie" Ash noted aloud, warily looking up in case any more of the small green Pokemon came raining down.

"And all of them have had their energy drained" Officer Charlie remarked, pointing out a puncture wound on one of the comatose Bug Type's bodies, "Be on high alert Ash. I think these Caterpie have only just been attacked, so our attacker might still be close by".

Just the thought of that was enough to have Ash tensing up where he stood.

Everybody in their little group was careful to be especially quiet as they each tried to determine whether or not they could hear or sense anybody close by. After a couple of moments, one of Pikachu's ears lightly twitched, as the sound of rustling leaves met his sensitive ears. The little yellow Electric Type Pokemon didn't bother waiting for an instruction from his human partner, and instead just acted on instinct, immediately jumping straight into action.

"PIKA... CHU!"

With a fierce scream that was eerily reminiscent of a battle-cry, Pikachu immediately became aglow with the power of crackling lightning. Ash and Officer Charlie were both startled by the sudden action, but could do little more than look on in awe as the little yellow creature launched a huge blast of lightning up into one of the nearby trees. Moments later, they realised that the attack had hit its mark.

"PIDGEY!"

The small group all looked on as a wild Pidgey was quite literally shocked right out of its tree. The small feathery Pokemon looked a little frazzled, but thankfully unharmed beyond that. It quickly took off into the sky and soon disappeared into the clouds. Ash and Officer Charlie both took a sigh of relief, whilst Pikachu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Just a wild Pidgey" Ash said in a relieved tone.

"And they can't learn Sleep Powder or Leech Life, so I think we can safely rule it out as our perpetrator" Officer Charlie added thoughtfully.

"Pikachu" Pikachu apologised for spooking everybody, still rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's okay Pikachu. We're all a little on edge today" Ash assured his beloved partner kindly.

Officer Charlie opened her mouth to comment as well, but sadly for the platinum blonde police woman, she never got a chance to verbalise her thoughts. For at that precise moment and without any kind of warning whatsoever, a piercing shrill noise echoed throughout the forest.

"VVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Ash, Pikachu and Officer Charlie all immediately cried out in pain as the noise felt like a physical force pressing against their eardrums. They all immediately covered their ears, and scrunched up their faces in almost agony.

"AAAHHH! WHAT'S THAT HORRIBLE NOISE?!" Ash had to bellow to be heard over what seemed to be a high-pitched ethereal buzzing sound.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Officer Charlie screamed back, her fingers pressed firmly in her ears, though it did little to block out the incessant wailing, "BUT KEEP YOUR GUARD UP ASH!"

It seemed to last for hours, and the two humans were almost brought to their knees due to the intensity of the awful screeching, as was Pikachu. It was almost agonising to listen to it, but as if by divine intervention, the small Electric Type Pokemon somehow managed to find the strength to push through the sheer torment in his ears, and unleashed a powerful Thunder Shock attack in the direction that the noise was coming from. The effect was instantaneous.

"VVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

This time the scream wasn't designed to inflict pain on others, but instead showed just how much pain the screamer itself was in. Clearly Pikachu's attack had hit the mark, and as soon as the blast of lightning flickered and faded out, the shrill screeching noise did too. Ash, Officer Charlie and Pikachu all sighed in relief, and slowly removed their hands from their ears.

"What on Earth was that?!" were the first words to escape from a startled Ash's lips.

A funny expression crossed Officer Charlie's face.

"Something that doesn't belong in this forest" the platinum blonde police woman said ominously, looking off darkly in the direction that the unworldly noise had originated from.

Without offering any kind of explanation to a somewhat bewildered Ash, Officer Charlie then marched into the bushes where the noise had sounded like it was coming from. The woman proceeded with caution, constantly on high alert in the event of danger or even a sneak attack, but a cursory sweep of the bushes revealed them to be empty. Whatever it was that they had just encountered, it wasn't there anymore.

"It's gone" the police woman finally announced with an air of relief.

"Do you think that was the thing that's been attacking all those people and Pokemon?" Ash asked her curiously as he came over to join her by the bushes.

"Probably" she nodded her head thoughtfully, still scouring the bushes carefully, looking for clues.

"I guess when you fired off that Thunder Shock attack, it must have got spooked and ran off, right Pikachu?" Ash reasoned, looking down at his beloved partner.

"Chu" Pikachu nodded his head.

"Too bad" Ash frowned, his shoulders dropping a little bit in disappointment, "If it had stuck around, we might have been able to keep it here long enough to alert Nolan. Then he could have captured it and put an end to all of this".

"Pi..." Pikachu's ears drooped sadly. He too looked a little upset at the missed opportunity.

"Or that thing could have gotten the drop on all of us, and we'd be in the same state that you found poor Douglas in" Officer Charlie chimed into the conversation between the two partners, "As it is, we're all okay, which is definitely something to be grateful for. Thank you Pikachu".

"Chu" Pikachu smiled up at her, his spirits brightening a little.

"Yeah, I guess" Ash could begrudgingly admit that the police woman had made a valid point. He was still a little disappointed though. Ash really just wanted to get this resolved, so he and his friends could resume their journey to Pewter City. There was a gym badge there just waiting for him after all.

Sensing his disappointment, Officer Charlie tried to brighten his spirits further. After all, just because she hadn't found the perpetrator in the bushes, didn't mean that she had come up empty handed.

"That encounter was still useful to us Ash" the platinum blonde police woman told him, and Ash glanced up at her with renewed interest, "Come and have a look at this".

Bewildered, but unwilling to ignore an instruction when it came from an officer of the law, Ash humoured her and stepped into the bush next to her. Officer Charlie crouched down, and once Ash had followed her example, she indicated as to what it was that she was talking about. Ash's russet coloured eyes were filled with confusion as the police woman carefully used a pair of tweezers to gather up several strange hairs that had gotten snagged on the bush's branches. Ash stared at them. The hairs were rather long, a striking shade of purple, and perhaps most oddly of all, they seemed to be coated in a strange kind of dust. They were unlike any kind of Pokemon hair that Ash had ever seen before.

"The attacker's?" he immediately realised where Officer Charlie was going with this.

"Precisely" she nodded firmly as she gathered up the remaining purple Pokemon hairs, and carefully placed them in a police evidence bag which she then sealed. Brushing themselves off, she and Ash both stood up again, and the raven haired boy immediately looked up at her.

"So what now?" he asked what he felt was the most appropriate question at this point.

"Now..." Officer Charlie said slowly, bringing the evidence bag up to her eyes and examining the weird violet coloured strands of hair inside it, "We follow Officer Jenny's instructions, which were to signal our position if we find anything".

Ash couldn't help it when a wide smile formed across his lips.

"I think Pikachu can handle that, right buddy?" the raven haired boy said confidently as he glanced down at his beloved Electric Type Pokemon partner. The little yellow creature smirked and nodded his head, before jumping into action.

"PIKA... CHU!"

Within seconds, a lightning bolt flashed across the sky, high above the treetops and visible to the entire Viridian Forest.

As per the revised version of Operation Iris, Misty had found herself teamed up with Officer Rick, and tasked with going with him to the area East of the site where they had originally found poor Officer Douglas after he had been attacked. They, just like everyone else, had been tasked with searching their assigned area for any potential clues as to the identity of the mysterious attacker, or with any luck, the attacker itself. It was with a heavy frown on her face that Misty took on this most solemn duty.

Now don't get it wrong, the orange haired girl was more than happy to contribute to the effort of stopping these quite frankly awful attacks against innocent people and Pokemon. It was just... a Bug Type move like Leech Life heavily implied that it was a Bug Type Pokemon behind all of this. And thanks to the intensity of her phobia, the Water Type Pokemon Specialist was most definitely in no hurry whatsoever for a run in with a critter of that particular element.

Needless to say, her nerves were beyond the point of frazzled as Misty set about scouring the forest for clues, and it wasn't long before Officer Rick picked up on it.

"Err... Misty? Tell me to mind my own business, but..." Officer Rick began awkwardly, not really used to talking to children as young as the girl accompanying him through the forest was, "Is everything okay? You've barely said a word since we left the others, plus... errr... well, you're shaking".

It was true. Misty had been so distracted by the unpleasant sense of fear that was churning in her gut that she hadn't even realised that she was trembling from head to toe. Sighing, the girl tried to get herself under control before she responded.

"Not really, no" the orange haired girl admitted to the kind but slightly awkward police officer at her side, "I'm just a bit nervous about deliberately looking for this creature... since we have to assume its a Bug Type Pokemon".

Officer Rick stared down at her, his face the perfect picture of confusion.

"Why should the Pokemon's type make a difference?" the young officer asked in a slightly bewildered tone, "We need to put a stop to the attacks regardless of what type of Pokemon it is that's committing them".

"I know we do..." Misty sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted as she ran a hand through her hair in mild embarrassment, "It's just... I'm afraid of Bug Type Pokemon. I have been for years".

Misty ducked her head slightly as she finished her confession. Quite frankly she was now mentally preparing herself to be ridiculed, as such was often the case when she revealed that particular vulnerability about herself. It was for that reason that Misty jumped when a reassuring hand was placed on her shoulder. Looking up, Misty saw Officer Rick smiling down at her kindly.

"The very fact that you were willing to help both your friend and the police despite your fear shows just how brave and remarkable you are" he told her earnestly, and Misty couldn't help but blush at the sincerity of his words, "But I don't want you to panic too much when we're separated from all the others, so what normally makes you feel better whenever you get scared?"

Misty barely even had to ponder his question for a moment before the answer came to her.

"Water" she said simply, and noticing the slightly confused expression that had appeared on the man's face, she quickly elaborated, "My family have been Water Type Pokemon Specialists for at least the last ten generations. A lot of my identity is based in that, so being around water has always been a great source of comfort to me. I just... feel safe when I'm near water".

Officer Rick thought about her response for a couple of moments, before he suddenly snapped his fingers as an idea struck him. The motion was enough to cause Misty to stare up at him.

"The river" he said simply, though this time it was his turn to elaborate when Misty just blinked at him uncomprehendingly, "There's a river that runs all the way through Viridian Forest that's not too far from here. It actually runs right through the middle of our assigned search radius, so we would have had to search near it at some point anyway. If it'll make you feel better, we could always start there instead though".

Misty couldn't help but smile up at the man, grateful for his consideration and understanding.

"That would be great" the orange haired girl nodded her head earnestly, "Thanks a lot Officer Rick".

"It's not a problem" the kind police officer assured her, before turning and stalking off in another direction to the way they had originally been heading, "Come on, I'll lead the way, but stay on your guard. And remember, we still need to keep our eyes open for any potential clues".

Nodding, Misty wordlessly followed the police officer off of the beaten path and into the trees. This time in a much more companionable silence as opposed to the stiff and uncomfortable one from before, the duo continued walking for roughly twenty minutes. After a while, Misty realised that they must be getting close to the promised river, since the smell of fresh clean water was beginning to fill her nostrils. Misty smiled brightly, and put on an extra burst of speed, prompting Officer Rick to do the same. Within seconds, the two humans stepped out from some bushes into another forest clearing, and they had arrived at their destination.

The Water Type Pokemon Specialist immediately grinned.

The river running through Viridian Forest was simply... beautiful.

It was like something out of a travel brochure, the scene that met Misty's stunned eyes was so majestic. The trees, the air, and most importantly the gently trickling water... all of it cast the perfect image of peace and tranquillity. Misty took a very deep breath, her lungs filling with the clean forest air. Officer Rick had made a good call in suggesting they come here. Misty certainly felt a lot better than she had just moments before. Unable to help herself, she grinned up at Officer Rick brightly, a smile which the man returned to her.

"Feel better?" he asked her gently, both his eyes and his tone full of genuine concern.

Misty eagerly nodded her head at him.

"Much" she took another deep breath of the refreshing clean forest air, "I feel better just being here already, like my Pokemon can take on any Bug Types and win. Thank you for bringing me here".

"You're welcome" Officer Rick gave her another supportive nod and a kind smile, "Like I said before, we were told to search this part of the forest anyway, so it just made sense to come here right away. Besides, I - hold on a second, what's that?"

Something appeared to have caught the policeman's eye, for his attention was quickly pulled away from his conversation with Misty, and on to something situated behind her. The orange haired girl tensed, suddenly feeling less confident again, but she forced herself to turn around. The scene that met her eyes, whilst not exactly good, was still better than the worst case scenario that Misty had been expecting. She had thought that perhaps she would find herself face to face with the mysterious attacker, so she was glad that that wasn't the case. Instead, the young girl followed Officer Rick's gaze to see a small figure sprawled out on the riverbank, and much to her horror, it did not appear to be moving.

"Something's there, and it looks hurt!" she cried, any trace of fear immediately fleeing her mind as she rushed over to the prone body to get a closer look.

"Looks like a Pidgey" Officer Rick remarked as he rushed over too, barely a step behind the girl that he had been partnered up with.

He was right.

Sprawled out on its back on the muddy bank of the river, was the familiar figure of a Pidgey. Its eyes were clamped tightly shut, and it's feathers were sleek with sweat, but perhaps most telling of all... there was a small purple Iris clasped firmly in its beak. Misty and Officer Rick both groaned as they realised what that meant.

"Looks like we've got ourselves another victim" Officer Rick frowned and shook his head, a note of bitterness entering his tone, "This thing really isn't messing around. The attacks are getting more and more frequent".

"At least this isn't Welkin" Misty murmured, more to herself than to Officer Rick, as she realised that the Pidgey unconscious in the mud before her was a lot bigger than her friend's. Catching her human companion's quizzical expression, she explained, "Nolan has a Pidgey called Welkin. This isn't him though. Probably a wild one".

"Either way, we can't just leave it here like this" Officer Rick announced, and without sparing Misty another look, he quickly got to work on rousing the unconscious Flying Type Pokemon. Within seconds, the poor creature's eyes snapped open.

"PPPPPIIIIIDDDDDGGGGGEEEEEYYYYY!"

The small brown feathery Pokemon was immediately on edge as it awoke to find itself surrounded by strangers. Evidently not interested in finding out what had happened, and much more interested in getting as far away from the site of its attack as quickly as possible, the wild Pidgey immediately took off, and flew away haphazardly through the air, splattering both Misty and Officer Rick with mud as it. Within seconds, it had disappeared over the treetops.

"Well that was easy" Officer Rick let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, but it didn't have to cover us both in mud as it went!" Misty grumbled in annoyance, glad that the Pidgey was okay but wishing it hadn't made such a mess. She began wiping away the mud from her arms, but Officer Rick just frowned thoughtfully, her words triggering a new thought in his mind.

"No... hang on" he muttered to himself under his breath, though Misty still heard him, "The mud's a good thing".

"It is?" Misty blinked in confusion. Officer Rick smirked at her.

"Yeah..." the policeman began slowly, "Because when the ground is muddy, you leave footprints".

Misty's eyes went very wide as he said that, and the young Water Type Pokemon Specialist immediately caught the man's thought process. They knew that the mysterious Pokemon that they were attempting to track had been at this particular location recently, which might just mean...

"Look!" Officer Rick suddenly exclaimed, his voice rising slightly in his excitement, "These tracks here. There's no way they came from any human, nor do they look like they came from that Pidgey!"

Once again, Misty saw that he was right. The fresh footprints that had been left in the mud were definitely not avian in shape. They looked more humanoid in shape, but much smaller and with only two somewhat chunky toes. Misty had no idea what type of Pokemon might have left them, leading her to suspect one thing.

"That must mean that they might be the attacker's!" she gasped. Officer Rick beamed and nodded at her.

"Looks like us coming here first was definitely the right call to make" the police officer remarked.

Immediately getting down to business, Officer Rick began rummaging around in his pockets. Misty watched on quietly as he eventually pulled out a small Polaroid camera. He snapped a few clear photographs of the footprints, and the camera printed them out. Satisfied, Officer Rick put his camera away again, before turning his attention back to Misty. He answered her question before she could even voice it.

"For evidence" he said simply, holding up the photographs he had taken, "And to show the others when comparing notes".

Misty nodded her understanding, and opened her mouth to reply, but unfortunately for her she never got the chance to utter so much as a single syllable. For at that exact moment, a bolt of lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, illuminating the whole of Viridian Forest as it went.

"That was Pikachu!" Misty instantly exclaimed, considering that she would recognise that lightning as his signature Thunder Shock attack anywhere.

"That must mean that Charlie and your friend Ash have found something" Officer Rick frowned as he looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

"Oh, I hope they're all okay" Misty fretted anxiously, wringing her hands.

"Let's go see" Officer Rick instructed, practically jumping back to his feet and running off full pelt into the trees again, back the way they'd came.

Misty didn't even hesitate before she followed him.

In the section of the forest south of where Nolan and his friends had initially discovered the unconscious form of Officer Douglas, the very incident that had gotten them involved in all of this in the first place, Nolan and Officer Jenny were conducting their own search for clues, though naturally, the golden haired boy was also hoping that they'd run into the mysterious attacker. That was his interest in all of this after all.

It was pretty slow going, but Officer Jenny was very thorough in scouring each and every part of the forest for potential clues. Nolan was doing his best to assist her, but admittedly he wasn't of too much help. His mind was simply elsewhere, since he had a strong feeling that a manual search wasn't going to yield many results. After all, this Pokemon had successfully evaded being seen for weeks now. He doubted very much that they were just going to stumble across it, though that would make things much easier. No. Nolan knew that they needed to be smarter than that, so whilst Officer Jenny searched their surroundings, Nolan was discreetly searching through his pokedex.

The boy's latest idea was a simple one. He was cross-referencing all the Pokemon in his pokedex that could learn both the moves Sleep Powder and Leech Life. Naturally, his information was somewhat limited since he currently only had the Kantonian Pokemon listed, but he was confident that he could at least narrow the list down, if only to hopefully produce a viable list of potential suspects.

Nolan had just started skimming through another pokedex entry when the sky suddenly lit up above him. The golden haired boy almost dropped his pokedex, he was so badly startled, but he quickly calmed himself enough to look up just in time to see the flash of a familiar Thunder Shock attack fading away.

"Pikachu..." he muttered to himself thoughtfully, before he glanced over to Officer Jenny, who had watched the lightning bolt fizzle out as well, "That was the signal!"

"We need to return to them at once then" Officer Jenny said decisively, before she began jogging off briskly in the direction that the lightning bolt had come from, "You never know, they might even have caught sight of our perpetrator".

"If they have, then hopefully they can keep it there" Nolan muttered under his breath as he set off after the blue haired police woman, Meadow trailing along at his side.

The two humans and Nolan's faithful partner hurriedly smashed their way through the undergrowth, sustaining several scratches from some thorn bushes along the way, but nothing that would slow them down. Within minutes, they arrived at the clearing where it appeared that the Thunder Shock attack had originated from. They were just emerging from the bushes when across the clearing from them, they saw Misty and Officer Rick doing the same. Add in the fact that Ash, Pikachu and Officer Charlie were already standing in the centre of the clearing, and the entire group was reunited again.

"Ash!" Nolan and Misty both called out at the same time, alerting each of them to the other's presence as well. The three friends all smiled at each other.

"Nolan! Misty!" Ash greeted them happily, "You guys saw our signal!"

"We did" Nolan nodded his head in confirmation, whilst at his side, Misty did much the same, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes..." Officer Jenny chimed in as she regarded Officers Charlie and Rick with light scrutiny, "I'd like to know the answer to that myself. Charlie?"

Taking the prompt, Officer Charlie briefly saluted her superior officer, before she hastened to explain why they had signalled for all of the others to come back and join them.

"We had an encounter with what we believe to be the perpetrator Ma'am" she said simply, seeing no point in beating about the bush.

A collective gasp of horror rippled throughout the group, and Nolan immediately turned back to his best friend, his blue eyes sweeping over the other boy for any signs of potential injuries. He was glad to find none.

"Any casualties sustained?" Officer Jenny asked grimly, knowing there was no avoiding the question, though thankfully Officer Charlie was already shaking her head.

"Other than some wild Caterpie it got to before it encountered us, no Ma'am" the platinum blonde police woman informed them, and they all sighed in relief, "Thankfully Ash's Pikachu was able to drive it off and protect us from harm since it almost incapacitated us".

"How so?" Officer Rick chimed into the conversation curiously. Officer Charlie sighed, a little embarrassed, but began to explain.

"It almost got the drop on us by using a Screech attack" she stated, rubbing her ears just thinking about how horrendous the noise had been.

Nolan's eyes widened upon hearing that little tidbit.

Without anyone noticing, the golden haired boy quickly fished his pokedex out of his pocket, and began flicking through it again. He was now checking the move Screech against the capabilities of the Pokemon on the list that he had already been compiling. He was careful to keep his ear out for any other useful information that came up in the conversation though.

"A Screech attack?" Officer Jenny mused to herself thoughtfully, "Well that's new. Anything else on your end to report?"

"Yes Ma'am" Officer Charlie nodded, and she held up the evidence bag containing the strands of purple hair that she and Ash had discovered before, "After our attacker fled the scene, we discovered these hairs snagged on some branches in the bushes. They must belong to the Pokemon that's been doing all this".

Upon hearing those words, Nolan briefly looked up from his pokedex, just long enough to see what the hairs looked like. Long, purple and coated with a strange type of glittering dust. Armed with that new knowledge, he quickly went back to his search, though he was still paying attention to the officers' conversation.

"Good work Charlie" Officer Jenny commended the younger woman, who smiled proudly, "That's the first proper indication that we have had as to what this Pokemon might look like. How about you Rick? Did your search yield any results?"

"It did Ma'am" the young man nodded, standing up straighter as it was his turn to be debriefed by the superior officer, "Me and Misty decided to begin our search down by the river. Upon arriving, we immediately found a Pidgey that had been attacked by our assailant. Right down to an Iris flower it had clasped in its beak. We revived it and it went on its way, splattering us with mud as it went, which is when we discovered that the mysterious attacker had left a set of footprints in the mud by the riverbank".

Officer Jenny's eyes widened as her officer produced a photograph that had clearly been taken on a Polaroid camera. She studied the image of the two-toed footprint intently, whilst unbeknownst to her, Nolan did the exact same thing. Once again, the golden haired boy went back to searching through his pokedex. A moment later, he nearly dropped it in shock, his eyes growing wide as a realisation struck him...

"Excellent" the blue haired police woman that was commanding Operation Iris nodded approvingly, not noticing that Nolan had all-but-fallen into a stunned reverie behind her, "We'll need to send both these photographs and the hairs off to a Pokemon expert right away. With any luck, this should be enough to tell us just what kind of Pokemon it is we're looking for".

"Errr... actually, that won't be necessary" Nolan hesitantly broke into the adults' conversation. The blonde haired boy stared down at the pokedex in his hand, almost transfixed with awe, before he looked up at them all. His icy blue eyes were wide with genuine shock and... excitement?

Officers Jenny, Rick and Charlie all looked down at the golden haired boy, confusion immediately flashing across their faces. Around him, Ash and Misty, as well as Meadow and Pikachu, all did much the same. Seeing that he had everybody's undivided attention, the young boy swallowed hard, before he made a declaration that shocked everyone to their cores.

"I've worked out exactly what Pokemon is doing all this".

And that's the end of another chapter : )

I know this was a bit longer than your average chapter, and the next one will be too, seeing as it will be the last chapter for my first original 'episode'. I really just wanted to get this 'episode' wrapped up now so I can move on to Nolan's first gym battle, and I figured two longer chapters would be better than three shorter ones in this case. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it, but now let's get to the main subject of this footnote.

Now, as I mentioned above, the Nuzlocke is drawing to its close, and that means only one thing. It's time to challenge the Elite Four and the Champion! Since I had no idea if I would even make it to this point when I first started the Nuzlocke, and I feel that it's a real accomplishment that I've made it, I've decided to detail each of the battles in the notes of the story for the benefit of the readers. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading about them. Anyway, this is the team that I decided to take on the challenge with: -

Meadow the Venusaur - Earthquake, Sleep Powder, Solarbeam and Frenzy Plant.

Electabuzz - Thunderbolt, Thunder, Shock Wave and Thunderpunch.

Snorlax - Rollout, Brick Break, Hyper Beam and Body Slam.

Jynx - Ice Beam, Lovely Kiss, Perish Song and Dream Eater.

Lapras - Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam and Perish Song.

Arcanine - Flamethrower, Overheat, Fire Blast and Flame Wheel.

I felt like this team, with each member at Level 60, gave me the best chance of success. Anyway, this week's battle was against Lorelei. She was actually pretty easy - and the main reason that Electabuzz ended up on the final team.

Electabuzz easily defeated Dewgong with two Thunderbolt attacks without taking any damage, and he knocked out her Cloyster in one hit with Thunder, though he missed a couple at first. Her Slowbro was a little trickier, and caused Electabuzz some damage with its Surf and Ice Beam attacks. I had to use a Full Restore, but then Electabuzz knocked Slowbro out with a combination of Thunderpunch and Thunderbolt. Lorelei's Lapras was actually the most difficult fight though. Electabuzz originally used Shock Wave and got Lapras down to half health, but Lapras then used Confuse Ray. I used a Full Restore to fix some earlier damage, but then Lapras used Body Slam which paralysed Electabuzz, but thankfully Static activated and paralysed Lapras as well. I then used another Full Restore, whilst Lapras used Body Slam again. Electabuzz then used Thunderbolt which finally wiped out the Lapras. Last up was Jynx, so I decided to switch into Arcanine. He was hurt immediately upon switching in thanks to the Spikes that Cloyster had set up, but he had an easy time of it overall. His Overheat easily knocked out Jynx in one shot, winning me the battle against the first member of the Elite Four.

Overall, a pretty straight forward battle with no casualties, but do you guys know what this victory against Lorelei means? It means it's time for another evolution vote! I wonder who will be picked this time, seeing as the Nuzlocke is almost over. Anyway, here are the options for this time: - Welkin the Pidgeotto, Venonat, Meowth, Kadabra, Koffing, Poliwag, Electabuzz, Geodude, Voltorb and last but not least Scyther. Quite a selection now, so please leave your vote in a review ; )

And I think that's just about everything for this week. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )