Hey readers - Here we are with the next chapter, and I've got to say, I've been looking forward to posting this one for quite some time. It's also quite a bit longer than the average chapter as well, which is always a nice bonus : )
Anyway, I honestly don't have too much to say this week, so let's get straight down to business. Unfortunately, I am unable to announce the winner of the last voting topic just yet since the result of it ended in a tie, but I'll get into the details of that in the footnote, once we've got through the chapter.
Finally, I just want to say an ENORMOUS thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. The support that has been shown to the story is amazing, and it means so much to me, so thank you : )
Please remember that Pokemon is not mine, only my OC's are : )
I hope you enjoy this chapter : )
Clefairy and the Moon Stone - Part 3
Nolan panted for breath, his lungs practically begging for oxygen that just wouldn't come quickly enough, as he bolted down the tunnel as fast as his legs would carry him. Despite all the trouble that their presence was causing for the inhabitants of Mount Moon, the golden haired boy couldn't help but feel a wave of gratitude flow through him for the presence of the bright florescent lights that were guiding the way for him. He wouldn't much fancy running around inside the mountain in the dark after all. Nolan was quick to force that notion away however. To be grateful for the lights being strung up in the caves meant being grateful to Team Rocket, and that was just wrong on far too many levels. Shaking his head clear of the disturbing thought, the blonde Pokemon trainer returned his attention to the matter at hand, hurtling alone the stone corridor and away from the villainous Pokemon that was pursuing him.
The Pokemon was that drawing nearer and nearer to the boy's retreating form with each passing second.
As the boy ran away from Meowth, the concealed Meadow twisted slightly from her position in his arms, clearly uncomfortable with being smothered by her human partner. She was all for the hugs they enjoyed sharing, but this was a little much for her tastes. Meadow knew that it was a necessary sacrifice though, if they wanted Misty and Seymour to get away with Clefairy and the shard of Moon Stone. And if a little personal discomfort was the price to keep Meowth's grubby paws off them, then Meadow was happy to pay it. She hated the idea of another Pokemon, any Pokemon, ending up on Team Rocket against their will. She'd do whatever it took to prevent that from happening.
Just as her human would.
The duo made their way down the winding tunnel, heading deeper and deeper into the mountain, taking a sharp corner before Nolan was forced to duck to avoid being hit head on by another frenzied Zubat that was fluttering about. The poor creature seemed so confused and distressed, and Nolan couldn't help but feel another wave of sympathy for all the Pokemon living in Mount Moon. They had to put an end to this soon, for their sake if nothing else. Thankfully the wild Zubat didn't seem very interested in attacking either Nolan or Meadow, and instead just soared over the blonde boy's head. He watched it disappear around the corner, before he heaved a sigh of relief.
Then...
Any relief Nolan had felt evaporated instantly.
A dead end.
He had ran headlong into a dead end.
Nolan couldn't stop himself from saying a curse word under his breath that he immediately prayed his father would never hear him utter out loud. The young trainer was about to turn back in the hopes of finding another route to prolong this cat and mouse game, but before he even had the chance to turn around, a nasally voice sounded from behind him, and Nolan's whole body tensed up nervously as he realised that he was out of luck.
Meowth had already caught up to him.
"Hehe... Meowth's got ya now Goldilocks!" the voice sneered, and grimacing, Nolan slowly turned around to find Meowth smirking darkly at him as he stood in the mouth of the tunnel, blocking Nolan's only route of escape out of the stone chamber, "Hand over dat Moon Stone, and da Clefairy too while ya at it!"
Upon hearing the cold demand, Nolan found that it was his turn to smirk.
"Moon stone? Clefairy?" the blonde boy made a pantomime of looking about the cave theatrically, much to Meowth's irritation, "I don't see any Moon Stones or Clefairy around here".
Meowth did not look impressed.
"Dey're right dare in your arms!" the furry white Pokemon protested, pointing at the bundle in Nolan's arm with a sharpened claw, "Quit stalling and fawk 'em over!"
Smiling even wider than before, Nolan opened his arms, and revealed not the Clefairy that Meowth was expecting, but rather his own partner Pokemon Meadow instead. She smirked at him cockily, as did her partner. The Scratch Cat Pokemon's jaw dropped open in incredulous shock.
"Waah?!" Meowth exclaimed in horrified surprise, utterly gobsmacked, "Where'd dey go?!"
At the small white creature's loud shrieks, Nolan simply couldn't help himself. He broke out in a fit of giggles that quickly escalated into full blown laughter. It wasn't too long before Meadow joined in, much to Meowth's indignation.
"What's so funny?!" Meowth demanded to know, incensed that the prey he had cornered were now laughing at him.
It took a few moments, but soon enough Nolan managed to get his chuckles under control, figuring that Misty had had enough time by now to get Seymour and Clefairy to safely by this point. The golden haired boy smirked as he responded to the Scratch Cat Pokemon's question.
"How stupid do you have to be to fall for that?" he remarked casually, making a show of inspecting his nails, whilst across from him, Meowth stared up at the boy in utter confusion, "I mean come on - following me down this tunnel just because I told you to? I thought you were smarter than that Meowth"
Meowth still wasn't getting it, and upon noticing this, Nolan smiled even wider.
"Did you think really think that I don't know that your voice echoes in a cave system?" the golden haired trainer shook his head in scathing disbelief, "That if I announced our 'plan' loudly enough, you wouldn't hear every word?"
Finally, the penny dropped, and Meowth's face turned an unpleasant shade of scarlet.
"You little twerp!" the Scratch Cat Pokemon snarled, utterly fuming as he put all the pieces together, "You tricked me!"
Nolan and Meadow couldn't help but chuckle at the indignant accusation.
"Ten out of ten for your observational skills" Nolan couldn't resist a little taunting, not after all the grief that Team Rocket had caused him and his friends, "You should consider opening a detective agency, you'd make an absolute fortune!"
"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" Meadow joined in, leering at the Normal type Pokemon that was their enemy.
Meowth's expression contorted with pure and unadulterated rage as Nolan and Meadow continued with their mocking.
"And let me guess" Meowth spat angrily, his fur practically standing up on end at this point, he was getting so riled up, "Whilst I came chasing after you, da twerpette took off with Meowth's Moon Stone".
Nolan gave him a thin smile. It lacked any of the warmth for which the boy was typically known for.
"Well, the Moon Stone doesn't belong to you... but yeah" Nolan nodded in agreement with the annoyed Pokemon's assessment, a smug smirk gracing his features, "That's pretty much what happened, yeah".
At the golden haired boy's side, his beloved partner couldn't help but smirk as the Pokemon across the rocky chamber from them only got angrier and angrier.
"Bulba!" she grinned in amusement.
Meowth's shoulders began trembling, he was so enraged by the blonde haired boy's duplicity. The Scratch Cat Pokemon flexed his claws menacingly at Nolan and Meadow, who were both still grinning at him in a way that made Meowth's blood boil.
"Meowth doesn't like tricks Goldilocks" Meowth snarled, his words clearly a very thinly veiled threat, his eyes narrowed dangerously, "Not unless dare mine! Meowth!"
Nolan fixed the Team Rocket Pokemon with a firm look of his own.
"And I don't like people and Pokemon that cause chaos wherever they go, and try to steal anything they can get their dirty paws on" the golden haired boy retorted heatedly, dropping his smugness in favour of cutting Meowth down a peg or two, "So, please, do not attempt to take the moral high-ground with me".
"Bulba!" Meadow nodded curtly in agreement.
But Meowth wasn't listening to Nolan's words at this point. Instead, the Normal Type Pokemon's attention had become fixated on the first part of what the golden haired boy had said. After hearing those words, Meowth's entire demeanour immediately changed from annoyed to offended.
"Hey! Meowth's paws ain't dirty!" he protested hotly, holding them out for Nolan and Meadow to see as evidence, "I wash dem every single day!"
In response, Nolan and Meadow couldn't help it when they both just snorted. Talk about missing the point.
The duo's latest response seemed to be the final straw for the spitting mad Meowth. There was a lot of things that he could tolerate, but slights against his personal hygiene most certainly wasn't one of them. Faster than the eye could blink, the Scratch Cat Pokemon's claws were fully extended, shining with a deadly glint under the bright florescent lights that he had helped to string up. He then ran forwards a few steps before leaping up into the air.
"See how clean Meowth's claws are for yourself Goldilocks!" the Normal type Pokemon screamed, looking ready to slash Nolan into ribbons, "Fury Swipes! Meowth!"
Nolan and Meadow's expressions changed instantly.
Gone were any trace of amusement or smugness from their features, instantly replaced by looks of surprise, and in Nolan's case, a small hint of fear. He needn't have worried though, not when he had Meadow by his side. The trusty Bulbasaur reacted immediately, and needless to say, she was beyond furious about the threat made against her human. Springing from her spot in her partner's arms, Meadow was ready to meet Meowth's attack head on with one of her own.
"Waaah!" Meowth grunted as he was knocked backwards and away from Nolan by a well-placed Tackle attack. The Scratch Cat Pokemon managed to land uneasily on his feet a couple of metres back from them.
Meadow also landed on her feet, albeit much more elegantly than her enemy, and immediately glared icily across the stone chamber they were all in at Meowth, silently daring him to try a stunt like that again. And unfortunately for the Scratch Cat Pokemon, he was actually foolish enough to test her patience on the subject.
"So ya gonna keep gettin' in Meowth's way, huh Meadow?" he glowered at the small green Pokemon in question.
"Saur!" she growled back, nodding her head to show that, yes, she would always protect her beloved human partner.
"Den I guess I'll have to go through you first, Meowth!" Meowth snapped, raising his lethal looking claws once again, "I'll turn you into salad dressing like da vegetable you are!"
And without so much as a flicker of hesitation in his eyes, Meowth lunged across the rocky chamber towards Meadow, his claws outstretched and ready to begin his Fury Swipes attack. Fortunately, thanks to the extra bit of time that Meadow had bought for them, Nolan quickly snapped out of his surprised state, and was ready to engage in battle with their opponent.
"Meadow quick!" Nolan cried urgently, not wanting to risk seeing those nasty looking claws in action, "Stop Meowth with your Vine Whip attack!"
"Bulbasaur!" Meadow nodded her understanding, and quickly unleashed her vines from the base of her bulb. The twin vines lunged through the air towards their enemy, and within seconds, Meadow had them tightly bound around a shocked Meowth's wrists, effectively stopping him in his tracks.
"Huh?" Meowth blinked in a confused manner.
The little furry Pokemon began tugging his arms back, trying desperately hard to free himself. It quickly proved to be a futile effort though. Meadow had too strong a grip on him, and no matter how much Meowth struggled and squirmed, he simply couldn't manage to throw her off.
"Nice job Meadow!" Nolan couldn't help but beam in delight at how well Meadow was managing to hold her own against this particularly sneaky opponent, "Now let's send Meowth on a little trip. Toss him!"
A grin that was positively wicked crawled onto Meadow's face at the latest instruction.
"Waaah!" Meowth gasped out, a look of horror and panic flashing across his features, before he immediately began to protest, "Hey! No! Wait!"
Said protests fell on deaf ears.
"Bulba... SAUR!" Meadow gave herself a nice long wind up, happily ignoring the cries of her captive as she spun him throw the air like a ferris wheel. After a couple of moments, once she was satisfied that she'd put just the right amount of power and momentum into her throw, did the little Grass Type Pokemon finally uncoil her vines and loosen her grip on Meowth.
"WWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Meowth's petrified screams echoed all around the stone chamber, and probably throughout every tunnel inside of Mount Moon as well, as he was sent flying thanks to Meadow's attack.
WHAM!
With a sickening crunch, Meowth's back collided with the cave wall, and another yelp of pain tore its way past the Scratch Cat Pokemon's throat. Grimacing and whimpering from the force of that downright brutal assault, Meowth couldn't do anything to save himself as he bounced off the cave wall as easily as if he were a ragdoll, before he tumbled down to the hard stone floor of the cave.
THUD!
With the secondary impact met by their loathsome enemy, even Nolan and Meadow couldn't help by wince in empathy, despite it being against their own wills. It was hard not to feel that one though, and if Meowth hadn't broken at least five teeth by crashing face-first into a small cluster of boulders like he'd just done, he should actually count himself quite lucky.
"DDDDDDDUUUUUUUDDDDDDDEEEEEEE!"
Then again, perhaps he shouldn't.
For suddenly, and without any kind of warning whatsoever, a strange sound echoed throughout the stone chamber that they were in. It kind of sounded like that noise you heard when you kicked a pile of gravel, but somehow it also sounded like... well, almost like a voice. Nolan blinked, and looked around the chamber for the source of noise, utterly confused about the conclusion that he had drawn, yet certain that it was also the right one. At his side, Meadow did much the same, her vines at the ready in case she needed them.
Meowth on the other hand hadn't noticed the strange noise that his opponents had. He was much more preoccupied by the searing agony in his face, which honestly felt like it had been dented, thank you very much. Letting out a feeble moan, the Normal Type Pokemon gingerly sat up, his little paws pressed against his aching jaw.
"Meowth!" the villainous creature whined pitifully, "Oh! That really hurt!"
The Scratch Cat Pokemon's complaining was enough to distract Nolan from his search for a brief moment. He turned to glance over his shoulder at Meowth, fully intending to tell him to be quiet so he could figure out where the strange noise was coming from, but the words immediately died on his lips. The golden haired boy's blue eyes went wide with surprise, as he struggled to process exactly what it was that he was looking at.
"Huh?!" Meowth exclaimed in surprise as he realised the same thing that Nolan had, "What da heck?!"
It was the boulders.
The small cluster of boulders was what had them so surprised. The very same cluster of boulders that Meowth had face-planted into, and was now currently laid out on top of. But why should a small mound of gray boulders be so astonishing? After all, they were inside a network of caves, so the rocks were hardly an uncommon sight. Well... it was more the fact that the boulders were moving that had the group so utterly flabbergasted.
They were actually moving, completely of their own volition!
Jaw dropped wide open in sheer disbelief, Nolan could do little more than look on in shock as two of the smaller boulders opened up to reveal a set of fingers of all things. The two hands then spread apart, revealing a pair of bulky arms, attaching the hands to a slightly larger gray boulder. Finally, there came the sound of stone rubbing against stone, and to the group's general amazement, a pair of eyes blinked open. The eyes immediately narrowed, and swept across the stone chamber, a look of intense annoyance burning away in them.
It was a Geodude.
They had inadvertently wandered into the home of a wild Geodude, and as if that wasn't enough, they had also disturbed it from its slumber. Nolan immediately felt on edge as the wild Geodude regarded each of them in turn. It was hard to judge the facial expression of a boulder, but the golden haired boy thought it looked more than a little peeved. Between the lights being strung up throughout the cave though, and now their intrusion on top of that, well it was no wonder that Geodude might be more than a little miffed. Nolan instinctively took a step back from the angry Rock Type Pokemon. He very much did not like the look of where this situation was heading. A split-second later, the boy was proved right.
"GGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOO!"
The wild Geodude let out a long guttural roar of outrage, clearly incensed by the intruders in its territory, and confused by the intensely bright florescent lights. Nolan briefly thought that the Geodude's voice was of a slightly higher pitch than the voice of Brock's Geodude, but he quickly shrugged the thought away. Now was hardly the time for such things after all. Helpless to do anything but watch, Nolan looked on as faster than the eye could blink, the Geodude suddenly clamped one of its hands tightly around Meowth's tail, since the Scratch Cat Pokemon was still perched atop its 'head'. Nolan was mildly impressed that such a bulky creature could move at such a quick speed. In one swift fluid motion, the Geodude had hoisted Meowth off of its 'head', and was now dangling him upside down in front of its face in order to get a better look at him.
"Hehe..." Meowth whimpered nervously as the Geodude stared him out, "How's its going friend?"
The wild Geodude most certainly was not impressed.
"WAAAH!" Meowth screamed when, without any kind of warning whatsoever, the Geodude suddenly flung the Scratch Cat Pokemon away, disregarding him as casually as if he were a piece of trash. The Normal Type Pokemon bounced across the surface of the cave floor several times before he landed in a graceless heap. He let out a feeble moan of pain.
"Meowth! Hey! What was dat for?!" Meowth snarled as he quickly scrambled to his feet.
"Dude! Dude! Geodude!" the wild Geodude bit back, angrily hopping up and down on the spot.
A malicious smirk graced Meowth's face upon hearing the wild Pokemon's response. Nolan felt nervous when he noticed it, realising that no doubt a wicked idea had sprung to Meowth's nasty mind. Just what scheme was that little menace concocting this time?
"So ya're all pumped up cos ya got woke up from ya nap?" the Scratch Cat Pokemon drawled, and the wild Geodude nodded in confirmation, its entire body moving due to the action, "Well ya got the wrong guy Rocky! It's dos two ya wanna take it up with! Meowth!"
He dramatically pointed his paw in the direction of a stupefied Nolan and Meadow.
"Dude?" the Geodude floated up off the ground a couple of inches before it pivoted in mid-air to face the accused.
"Huh?!" the golden haired boy reared back in surprise, though he really shouldn't have been. Of course Meowth was going to lie and throw him and Meadow under the bus in order to save himself. What else could he possibly expect from the little furball?
"Saur! Bulba! Bulbasaur!" Meadow immediately protested against Meowth's accusation, but unfortunately it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"Geodude! Geodude! Dude! Geo!" the Rock Type Pokemon was getting more and more riled up by the second, and due to its confused state thanks to the florescent lights that shouldn't even be there, the wild Geodude seemed to be completely beyond reason.
Behind the floating stone creature, Meowth smiled gleefully, before he decided to press a few more of Geodude's buttons.
"Yeah, and I bet dat dey're da ones who put up all dese lights in here too! Meowth!" the Scratch Cat Pokemon added in a conspiratorial drawl, furthering his manipulations over the enraged wild Pokemon.
"That isn't true!" Nolan cried in protest, glaring down at the smug Normal Type Pokemon with utter loathing, "It was you and your loser friends that did that!"
"Saur!" Meadow angrily concurred at his side.
The wild Geodude didn't seem to know who to listen to, and for one brief moment, Nolan actually had hope that they might be able to get through to the stone creature. That flicker was quickly dashed however as Meowth added his most unwelcome input once more.
"Heh! That's exactly what I'd say if I was da one dat caused all dis!" Meowth effortlessly lied through his teeth, smirking up at Nolan in dark amusement, "Don't ya think so Geodude?"
Sadly, Geodude seemed to be completely taken in by Meowth's lies. It 'nodded' its whole body vigorously in response.
"Dude! Geodude!" the wild Rock Type Pokemon glowered darkly at Nolan and Meadow, who were both steadily getting more and more wary the longer this conversation went on.
"If I were ya, I'd want payback on dem for dis!" Meowth continued stirring the pot, relishing in the horrified expressions on his enemies' faces, "Ya should drive dem all da way out of Mount Moon! Dat'll teach dem to mess with ya home!"
If looks could kill, Meowth would be dead on the floor where he stood, killed by both Nolan and Meadow alike.
"GEODUDE!" the wild Geodude unfortunately seemed to agree with the unsavoury idea that the Scratch Cat Pokemon had just presented. And unfortunately for Nolan and Meadow, it seemed to be all the provocation that the Rock Type Pokemon needed, so enraged as it was in that moment.
"WAAAH!" Nolan exclaimed in alarm as the wild Geodude suddenly lunged at them.
The golden haired boy leapt off to the side and dived into a roll to avoid being hit by the enraged Geodude's attack. Meadow also successfully dodged out of the way of the Tackle attack, before she rounded on the wild Pokemon and glared at it. Her stormy expression could only mean one thing. She was not going to let that attack on her beloved partner stand.
"BULBASAUR!" the little Grass Type Pokemon let out a scream that was akin to a war-cry.
Without even bothering to wait for a command from her trainer, Meadow moved quickly to make a retaliatory attack, and unleashed her strong vines from beneath the base of her bulb.
"DUDE!" the furious wild Pokemon yelled
out in pain as it was suddenly lashed with a well-placed Vine Whip courtesy of Meadow.
Nolan's beloved partner smirked darkly for a moment, but unfortunately, it didn't last for very long.
"Geo..." the aggravated wild Pokemon actually snarled at both Nolan and Meadow alike, before it used the strength of its bulky arms, and ripped a large chuck of solid stone right out of the ground, "GEODUDE!"
With of enraged scream of its own, the wild Rock Type Pokemon then flung the huge piece of stone through the air at great speed.
"SAUR!" Meadow shrieked in alarm as she scrambled backwards to avoid being hit by the dangerous projectile.
"Whoa" a nervous Nolan couldn't help but gawk in amazement from his spot on the sidelines, "That was a Rock Throw attack!"
"Dude..." the wild Geodude spat at Meadow.
The little Grass Type Pokemon angrily narrowed her crimson coloured eyes at her latest enemy. It didn't take a genius to work out that whatever the wild Pokemon had just said to her was an insult of the highest calibre.
If Meadow had looked angry before, it was nothing compared to the expression she wore now.
"BULBASAUR!" Nolan's beloved partner screamed back, but evidently that wasn't enough to let her feelings be known. With a look that chilled even Nolan all the way down to the bone, Meadow decided to fire an attack back at the Geodude as opposed to a retort. From her bulb, the fuming creature launched one of her infamous Leech Seed attacks.
Nolan watched on with wide eyes as the projectile was too fast for its intended target to dodge, and with astounding accuracy, Meadow's Leech Seed hit the wild Geodude dead between the eyes. Despite the hard texture of the creature's skin, the seed embedded itself there, and within seconds, the Geodude was caught up in the flurry of thin vines that had burst out of it.
"DUDE! GEO! GEODUDE!" the wild Rock Type Pokemon immediately began flailing, trying to free itself from the vines. It was no use though, especially after the vines lit up with an enchanting green light, and some of Geodude's strength was siphoned away, "D-DUDE! Dude... Geo..."
Nolan couldn't help but sigh in relief as their latest opponent's screeches of rage began dying down into faint whimpers. That was a sure-fire sign that it was weakening.
"Excellent job Meadow!" the golden haired boy complimented.
"Saur!" Meadow smirked, looking rather pleased with herself, as more and more of her enemy's energy was sucked right out and fed back into her.
Nolan grinned down at her, and was about to suggest that they leave whilst they had the upper hand without any more trouble. Before the golden haired boy had the chance to utter so much as a single syllable however, the Geodude let out a small pitiful whimper, and Nolan's resolve broke. There was no way, despite how angry Meowth's malicious manipulations had made this poor creature, that Nolan could simply just walk away whilst it was in such pain. His heart just wasn't cold like that. And whilst some people might think that that had left Nolan in a tricky position, in actuality that wasn't really the case at all. In fact, the golden haired boy's options at this point were actually rather simple and straightforward.
He couldn't just leave the wild Geodude here all alone, but he could bring it with him.
Grinning as he came to one singular conclusion, Nolan took a small step closer, whilst his hand reached down to his belt and unclipped one of the empty pokeballs that hung there. Meadow caught sight of the action out of the corner of her eye, and whilst she certainly hadn't been expecting these events to take such turn, she quickly understood where her beloved human's mind had gone, and his motivations for what was surely coming next.
"I'm sorry Geodude, but you brought this on yourself!" Nolan announced to the wild Rock Type Pokemon, who was still struggling valiantly against the vines shrouded around its body, but was weakening with each passing second, "Remember that! Now! Pokeball go!"
And without missing a beat, Nolan then hurled the red and white sphere clasped in his hand high into the air. The pokeball arched across the length of the tunnel, before it struck the almost unconscious Geodude head on. In a flash of bright red light that illuminated the cave far more than the out-of-place lanterns ever could, the pokeball snapped open, and Geodude was pulled into its confines. The device then shut again with an audible click, before it softly fell down to the cave floor, and began rolling around as it struggled to subdue the creature within.
Now the real test of patience was upon them.
The young Pokemon Master in the making bit his lip anxiously as he waited to see if the fates were in his favour. He even went as far as to cross his fingers, as his eyes carefully tracked the pokeball's movements as it rocked back and forth. It was a very tense couple of moments as both Nolan and Meadow waited with baited breath to see if the capture would be successful.
Much to the relief of their fraying nerves... they didn't have to wait too long to find out...
After a couple more seconds of intense waiting, the pokeball stopped twitching about on the cave floor, and finally lay perfectly still. The light in the centre of the device stopped pulsing with light, and tiny sparks shot out of it instead. Nolan couldn't help but grin when he realised what that meant.
It meant that he had made yet another successful capture!
"YES!" Nolan bellowed so loudly in his joy that his voice carried all the way down the tunnel, reverberating off the walls and magnifying his cheer to almost deafening proportions, "We did it Meadow! We did it! That was some really great battling you put in!"
"Bulba" Meadow cooed happily as her beloved human knelt down and gently patted her bulb.
The duo spent a couple more moments congratulating themselves on a job well done. Still reveling in their success, Nolan and Meadow eventually broke apart, knowing that despite just how wonderful their latest achievement was, they still had a very important task ahead of them. Getting to know their newest teammate, and hopefully easing any residual tensions between them.
So with a small measure of trepidation running through his veins, Nolan slowly walked over to where the red and white sphere had fallen prone, before he bent down and wrapped his fingers around the cool surface of the metal device. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Nolan mentally braced himself for what he assumed would be a tense confrontation. He procrastinated for a moment longer by glancing down at his partner, and smiled when he found her waiting loyally by his side.
"Have your vines at the ready, just in case Geodude hasn't got its anger out of its system yet, okay?" he gently requested.
"Saur" the little Grass Type Pokemon nodded seriously, and extended her deep green vines from the base of her bulb.
Deciding not to waste any more time with further hesitation, Nolan quickly got down to business. The golden haired boy arched his arm back, and tossed the pokeball in his hand high into the air. When it finally began to descend, the red and white sphere snapped open, and in a burst of crimson coloured light, the boy's newest Pokemon materialised on the ground in front of them.
Geodude looked confused for a brief second, but Nolan supposed that was only to be expected. After all, being transformed into an energy signature and then sucked into a machine probably wasn't an experience that Geodude had encountered before. Once the Rock Type Pokemon had gathered its bearings, it looked up at Nolan with a disgruntled look on its face.
"Dude..." Geodude muttered, half-raising it's arms as if unsure whether it ought to attack them or not.
"There's no need for that!" the golden haired boy quickly assured, though he kept his tone and expression both very stern, needing the creature before him to understand that he was being serious, "Despite what you've been led to believe, we are not your enemies. Meadow only defended us when you attacked first, but we do not want to fight with you anymore. We want to be your friends!"
The Geodude gave him an incredulous look. It was pretty obvious that it wasn't buying Nolan's claims so easily.
"Geo! Dude!" the small Rock Type Pokemon angrily gestured towards the lanterns on the wall with a wave of its hand, "Geodude!"
A soft sigh of exasperation slipped past Nolan's lips.
"Geodude, we are not the ones responsible for those lights being here" the golden haired boy insisted in a tone that couldn't be mistaken for anything but utterly sincere, "That Meowth is the one that did that. He's part of a criminal organisation known as Team Rocket. They do... terrible things, to both people and Pokemon alike. Don't you understand? He lied to you! He manipulated you so that you would attack us whilst he made his escape to go cause more trouble! He's after the Moon Stone that legend says is buried in this mountain somewhere!"
Geodude reared back in horror and surprise. Whilst it still wasn't sure how trustworthy the human before it was, the Rock Type Pokemon had calmed down enough that it could also admit that what Nolan was saying did have the potential to be true at least.
"If you think I'm lying, then just ask yourself this; Where is Meowth now?" Nolan asked, trying to bring as much logic into this conversation as possible, "You know that me and Meadow can't have done anything to him, because we were preoccupied with battling you. So where is he?"
It was a good question, since the tunnel they were in was now completely void of the Scratch Cat Pokemon, who had been there just moments before. It was quite clear that the devious little creature had used the distraction of the battle to scarper.
Geodude awkwardly glanced around the tunnel that they were all in, but was unable to come up with a response, since Meowth had vanished. It lowered its eyes to the ground as it realised that Nolan spoke the truth. It had been tricked, and that was a bitter pill to swallow.
"Geo..." Geodude said in a low tone, one that was obviously racked with guilt.
Seeing just how genuinely contrite the creature before him truly was, Nolan couldn't help but feel obliged to offer it some small measure of comfort. The young Pokemon trainer slowly reached out with a tentative hand, and upon being met with no negative or defensive reaction, he gently petted his new Geodude atop its domed head.
"Apology accepted" he said kindly, because that was obviously what Geodude had just said, despite Nolan being unable to understand its language, "Meowth used you for his own ends, it's not your fault. And besides, who isn't a little grumpy when they've just woken up? I know I certainly can be sometimes"
Those last few words were just a little joke to try and lift the slightly-tense atmosphere. It seemed to have had the desired effect, because Geodude gave Nolan a small strained smile.
"Geodude" the Rock Type Pokemon replied softly.
"The point I'm trying to make is that me and Meadow are not ones for holding grudges" he reassured Geodude kindly, hoping to put it at ease, "Right Meadow?"
"Bulbasaur" Meadow nodded, but her expression was solemn.
Geodude was able to interpret the meaning in the Grass Type Pokemon's eyes immediately. Try hurting my human again, and I'll rip you limb from limb. Geodude nodded to show that it understood, and Meadow relaxed slightly.
"That's important for you to know about us" the golden haired boy continued, recapturing Geodude's attention, "Because... well... I'm a travelling trainer, and to stop you from hurting us, I captured you. Do you understand what that means?"
Geodude did indeed.
Even though it rarely ever revealed itself to the humans that passed through the depths of Mount Moon, Geodude had seen others of its kind captured and taken away to become members of said humans' 'teams'. It had always wondered what that meant. It appeared that it was about to find out.
"I'm sorry if that upsets you, but it was the only way I could think of to get you to calm down" Nolan explained after Geodude signalled that it understood the meaning of his words, "If you want, I will release you, and you'll be free to return to your ordinary life, but I'd really like for you to consider the possibility of joining us on our journey as a member of my team".
Geodude's eyes grew very wide at the boy's proposal. This wasn't a situation it had ever found itself in before, so it wasn't entirely sure how to react.
"Like I said, the decision is yours" Nolan quickly reiterated, "But what I'm offering is a way out of the darkness of these caves, with the chance to travel to far away places, and grow stronger than you could possibly imagine. But more then that - you'll have a family. Because that's what my team is to me. Family".
It was those last few words which seem to really resonate with Geodude. Despite the fact that it had attacked when it felt provoked, the small Rock Type Pokemon wasn't much of a battler by nature. Truth be told, it was more of a peacemaker at heart, despite recent events suggesting otherwise. Either way, the pursuit of strength simply for the sake of strength alone didn't hold much appeal for it, but the idea of having a family, one which cared about it and it could care about them in return, a place where it really honestly and truly belonged... it was all Geodude had ever dreamed of. And that was why it didn't even need to give any further consideration about its answer. Geodude instantly beamed up at the golden haired boy, and bobbed its entire body in an affirmative gesture.
Nolan's face threatened to break clean in two, his smile was so gigantic.
"Awesome! Then welcome to the team Geodude!" he cheered brightly, reaching out and petting his newest Pokemon friend once more, "I'm Nolan, and you've already met my partner Meadow".
"Bulba" the little Grass Type Pokemon greeted her newest teammate kindly. Clearly any of the earlier hostility was long-since forgotten.
"Geo" Geodude politely returned the gesture.
"Now I just want to do a little scan with my pokedex here, if that's alright with you" Nolan asked hopefully, pulling his pokedex out of his pocket and holding it up for Geodude to see, "You won't feel a thing, I promise. It's just to help me learn a little bit more about you, so I can give you the very best care possible".
"Geo. Dude" Geodude bobbed it's body again, giving Nolan the consent that he desired.
The golden haired boy smiled and thanked his newest Pokemon, before he proceeded to scan his new Geodude with his pokedex. His icy blue eyes widened as he silently digested the results. From what the scan said about his latest friend, this Geodude had the Rock Head ability, and had a variety of moves at its disposal. These moves consisted of Tackle, Defence Curl, Rock Throw and Magnitude. Nolan was quite surprised by that last one, and was immediately very grateful that Geodude had not used that particular move during their match. Otherwise, the entire mountain might have been shaken so badly that it could have toppled down on all of them. Nolan was in no hurry to be involved in something like that, thank you very much.
But that wasn't the only surprise that his new friend had in store for him. Perhaps it was the deep voice, or maybe even the masculine face, but Nolan was quite surprised to discover that his latest Pokemon was a female of the species. Not that that made any difference to him of course. He loved all of his Pokemon equally, regardless of the vast differences between them all.
"Brilliant! I learned a lot about you from that, Geodude" Nolan said to her in a pleased tone, "But for now I'd like you to return to your pokeball for a little while. I promise I'll let you out again soon though, and when I do you can meet everyone else. Perhaps we can even come up with a new name for you, if you'd like that".
Geodude's eyes light up with excitement upon hearing her new trainer's suggestion. A name would be permanent. It would cement her place in the family that he was building. She liked the sound of that, very, very much.
She bobbed her entire body in an affirmative gesture again, and with one last smile at his newest Pokemon, Nolan pointed her new pokeball at Geodude, and called her back into its confines. The golden haired boy then clipped the pokeball back on to his belt. He couldn't help the giddy grin that was sprawled across his face. He had now built over half a team, and that was a pretty nice feeling. The young trainer quickly sobered up however, as he remembered the events which had led up to this encounter in the first place. Concern replaced excitement, so without another word, he quickly scooped Meadow up into his arms, and set off running down the tunnel, back in the direction that they'd originally come from. He had to find his friends and make sure that they were all alright. He just had to. Still, he couldn't quite fight off the glowing smile that was etched into his face as he went.
He had captured a new Pokemon, and had made a new friend.
And that was just... fantastic.
And that's part three of Clefairy and the Moon Stone done : )
YAY! Nolan has a new team member! I always like chapters when I get to add a new Pokemon into the mix, which is why I've been eager to post this one for quite some time now : ) I know that considering when Nolan first met Geodude in this chapter that she was quite aggressive you'd think that she'd be a keen battler, but I have a different route in mind for this particular character : ) Besides, she'd just been rudely woken up from a nap; who wouldn't be a bit grumpy? ; )
Anyway, let's talk about the results of the last voting topic. First of all, thank you to those that voted. You guys have whittled five Pokemon options down to three. Those three are Oddish, Tentacool and Mankey. I'm not gonna lie, I'm glad it wasn't Drowzee or Metapod, because despite loving the design of Archipelago Butterfree, I really don't want to have to use one of the precious few evolutions in this Nuzlocke on it. Plus I'm just not a huge Drowzee/Hypno fan. They're okay, but there are better Psychic Types out there in my opinion. But anyway; please, please go leave a vote for either Oddish, Tentacool or Mankey and help me break this tie because I really, really want to know who my first new Pokemon is going to be : )
With that, I think that's just about it from me for this time, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for reading my story. Please considering leaving a review before you go, because I'd love to hear your feedback : )
Until the next time, keep on reading : )