[Pokémon] The Sacred Plates of Sinnoh

[Brendan Savem]

A fic I was planning to do when I first came to this site, the story fell into a hiatus due to school and other things. And after hearing that the Galactic arc ended in Japan, I returned to this story and even managed to finish the first chapter. This currently stands as being rated K+, due to the more realistic violence I'll try to create, while retaining parts of the flow the anime possessed. Language might be present on occasion, since it's basically human nature. I hope it will stay this way, but the mind can be a very confusing thing at times... Nevertheless, it should be a good read. Like it, hate it, comment on it, criticize it, flame it, get banned in the process, do what you want. I'll just keep working at the pace that suits me best.​

Prologue
Quietness. That bugged him out of his mind. And yet that was what he was forced to live with for the past three days. Empty quietness, waiting for the order that might never come. He was sitting under the shade of a tree, a titan monument compared to the brown earth below, which was mostly bare with sparse shoots of long grass lashing at the sky. His thirteen or so colleagues were all working in a nearby ditch on a variety of machinery. He was the only one currently unoccupied with something, and he was sick of it. If this went on any longer, he might as well do the operation himself. The bizarre suit he was wearing wasn't helping much either, neither was the blue dye in his hair. Both were multiplying the heat and making him sweat like a dog's tongue. He then saw one of his friends stop working and move towards a nearby tree. Seeing that he was now in the same state as him, he decided a conversation wouldn't hurt. He slowly raised himself from the ground and approached his comrade.​

"Well Tim, I now stand corrected, I really shouldn't have worked for this promotion, at least there is something to actually do in janitor business." He said, falling onto a small stool two feet away from his partner, just barely in the shade of that single tree.​

"Don't fret too much. It gets better once you get started, the wait will be worth it." His comrade explained, a small smile appeared on his lips. He was much more focused on the organization's goal.​

"But can we really pull this off? To be honest, an 'entirely new world' sounds a little farfetched. And as far as I'm concerned, a piece of stone isn't going to do much." He pointed out.​

"That 'piece of stone' is an extremely rare artifact that dates back to the creation of Sinnoh. I hear that you can feel its power through mere touch." His partner explained, quickly getting more exited and agitated. "Imagine, what sort of powers such an object could hold. And imagine what we could do with all of them-"​

"Wait," the guy interrupted, "There are more of them?"​

"Of course, I don't know how many, but they represent something. And when united, they can be used for something powerful… something to change the world" he explained. "Take my first operation at Mt. Moon for example, we had some of the most cutting edge digging tools, and we did it for a tablet with some inscription on it. I was just as surprised as you are, but now that we know what it says, I understand everything, the whole world is just at our fingertips now." He explained,​

"But that's my point exactly." The first man objected angrily, "That was all you managed to get, I heard there were catacombs of the ruins down there, and why couldn't we finish what was just getting started? And you should know; because the entire plan was scuttled by some juvenile-"​

"You lovebirds done yet?" a voice behind them asked, Both men quickly leapt to their feet, turned around to face the man that spoke, stood firm, and saluted their commander; a man in his thirties with a blue, crescent-shaped haircut and a uniform similar to theirs.​

"Yes sir! Commander Saturn sir!" The second grunt sounded off, his partner eyed his partner with an eyebrow raised.​

"I'd love to leave you two to it, but it's time to get your butts working. I got the word from the boss; Operation Flamethrower is a go. Final system check-up, we move out in three hours." He explained, then turned around to continue spreading the word to the rest of the group. As soon as he was out of earshot, the two relaxed.​

"Next time he says that, don't even open that face of yours!" the grunt shouted into the face of his colleague, not caring that heads had turned on them.​

"Don't worry about it," The colleague replied calmly, then looked into his partner's eyes with a sly grin, "Because you're about to see what Team Galactic is really all about."​

Chapter 1
Sinnoh: probably the most isolated of the pokémon regions, a titan island surrounded by an archipelago of tiny islands; like a spider surrounded by thousands of army ants moving in for the kill. It was also one of the most mysterious, with a collection of odd and bizarre legends that many have failed to confirm or deny. That is what provokes many archeologists to visit this region to see what they could do for the matter. Some have made major breakthroughs, others have left empty handed. Some credit their findings to luck, others to skill, but the best know that it was because they refused to give up hope and quit until they found what they were looking for. Almost everything in Sinnoh depends on the determination to achieve your goal, whether it's cooking, art, or the much coveted activity of this world; training pokémon. The harsh conditions created by the towering Mt. Coronet makes Sinnoh a very tough region to travel, requiring all the skills a trainer can utilize and the will to push through. Some of the best trainers were from Sinnoh, and those that visit the region can understand why. That is why trainers young and old, strong and weak, caring and disciplining, all come to this region to prove to themselves that they won't give up on their hopes and dreams of reaching the top. And as the myths of Sinnoh begin to unfold, people across the world shall come to see the true power of determination and hope​

The Canalave port is one of many places that are permanently alive with activity, even in the dusky beginnings of the dawn. Ships moving in and out of the harbor, dock workers unloading and loading idle ships with crate loads of goods, and tourists and citizens alike weaving through one another to get to and from the docks. Pokémon too were within the crowds, accompanying their owners loyally. The drawbridge that linked the two halves of the city on either side of the canal was constantly raised to allow the large ships that constantly drifted through to avoid having their tops removed by the mechanical bridge's metal bindings. Currently, the bridge stood in two pieces on either side of the river. Pedestrians on either side watched as a cruise ship that took up much of the space in the canal cruised silently through and into the town. As it passed and began drifting towards the harbor, the two halves of the bridge slowly lowered themselves back down to allow the growing pedestrian crowds to cross over; just another ship reentering the harbor. The ship in question was a single-hulled, white long-distance ferry cruiser that carried civilians to and from Canalave City and it's departure dock; Cinnabar Island. Thus, the S.S. Whirlpool was a cross-region transporter. As the massive ship eventually was docked and roped down and the gangplank was extended towards the stone flooring, tourists and civilians, of many nationalities, began to file their way down the two gangplanks that connected land with ship at the deck and at the stern of the cruiser. These people quickly broke away from their fellow passengers and rejoined the massive crowds that flocked the outskirts of the docks. Many such people were tourists wanting to see the many sights that Sinnoh had to offer, others were residents of the region, having gone to the region of Kanto for the same reason as the tourists that were here to see Sinnoh. However, the most identifiable class of people that had crowded the cruiser were the pokémon trainers, determined with their grand goal to put the challenges and rewards of travelling and battling in Sinnoh under their belt.​

Brendan wasn't expecting the sound of the ship's foghorn to echo through his dreams, it slowly brought him around. He tried to get back to sleep almost immediately, until he remembered just where he was. He shot out of the small cabin bed and harpooned the neatly folded pile of clothing on the bedside. He quickly scrambled himself into the white shirt, the red and black themed jacket, pants, and shoes. And quickly slapped on his yellow and black half-gloves on his pale hands and the red and black striped headband over his unnaturally white hair. He then slipped one hand underneath the bed and pulled out a yellow backpack that only had strap, which he slipped over his head and held it firmly on his back, there were broken stitching where there was supposed to be a second strap, where something cleanly cut off the second strap. The fifteen year old then stood up, ready for his upcoming adventure, and scanned the room. It was a small, and not the grand image of luxurious, it wasn't barren and empty either. There was the bed in one corner, a small chest of drawers in the opposite end, and a door and window at the foot of the bed. Brendan was sharing the room with the two pokémon he had brought along with him to Sinnoh, the ghostly pokémon with two short and chubby legs, floating hands, and a single red eye that could stare endlessly. And Brendan's first partner; a grey humanoid the size of Brendan's torso with a clearly powerful physique, large red eyes, and three cartilage growths that extended and curled over his head like three fingers gripping his skull . Dusclops was already awakening, the only sign of this was him raising the hands that were initially flat on the ground. Machop on the other hand was still asleep, one hand dropping out of a tiny hammock he had set between the nails where two pictures were once hung on. Brendan retreated Dusclops to its pokéball, and picked Machop up and laid him on the bed while he dismantled the hammock and hung up the pictures that belonged there. This disturbance to his sleeping place awoke the superpower pokémon and brought him to action in a similar way as his human partner. Brendan zipped the hammock up in his bag and, fully packed and prepared, opened the door that led out onto the ship deck and into the light of the early morning. ​

Most of the passengers were already off, but there was still a single-file line that hung to the railing in front of him and led towards the deck's gangplank down onto the Canalave dock. Brendan waited patiently as he and Machop got in line, flashed the ferry ticket, and were eventually released as their parted ways with the ferry. Once free of the dock and crowds, Brendan leaned himself on an iron railing that stretched down the sides of the canal. Ahead of him, beyond the rolling waters of the river and the other side of town, lay the barely visible tops of trees creeping up from behind the many two story buildings that were in Brendan's line of sight. After that, the morning haze reduced visibility to a swirling, grey emptiness of the sky's edge. Brendan sighed, the conditions made it impossible to see the sight he was hoping to see. He was probably going to have to wait until the sun itself became more visible. Slowly, as Brendan strained his eyes to try and see, the wind began to pick up. The haze was already beginning to clear up to welcome the true morning. Just as Brendan was about to turn around and head off to find the pokémon center; it appeared on the horizon. The brown rock of the base came first, but it spread like wildfire, showing more and more of itself to the eyes of the Canalave civilians. Brendan watched as the dawn came to a close and the morning truly began; and revealed the pride and joy of Sinnoh traveling. A gigantic mountain with a darkish-brown color and an unusual shape of crooks, crevices, spikes, and other rock formations. As the eyes ascended up the mountain, the rock began to grow lighter and the rocks smoother, created by the stronger winds up the mountain. Then, the gap became visible. A hole in the side of the mountain that could have been created by a gigantic missile that ploughed right through it. Finally, the left half of the mountain turned from a light brown to a snow white. This continued up until the curved tip that made it look like a crudely drawn C, at least from where Brendan looked at it from. The other peak, the higher one, remained shielded from eyes, a white fog enveloped the mountain just barely about where the second peak ended, shielding what strange things stood at the far top of the mountain. This, was Mt. Coronet, the colossus mound that shaped nearly the entire Sinnoh region. You could stand anywhere on Sinnoh soil, and still see the mountain. And being able to see the immense size even from the distant Canalave City, Brendan knew that it wasn't a hoax. Mt. Coronet was truly a sight, and Brendan truly believed that one day, during his adventures here in the Sinnoh region, he would be one of few to see the entire region of Sinnoh from the much fabled peak.​

 

[Brendan Savem]

(eh-heh, zombie thread back from the dead)

Chapter 2
"Alright Hydro! Let's start our training by teaching that tree a thing or two!" a young teenager, about the age of thirteen, ordered. The tiny, blue penguin pokémon that stood in front of him responded to the command by raising its tiny flipper over its head, and scampered as fast as it could on its tiny webbed feet. It then reached the tree that was being used as the target and gave it a sharp whack. "Alright, now keep it up!" the trainer continued, the Piplup then repeated the action with its other flipper, continually hitting the tree in constant pattern. The impact of skin on wood formed a dull thud with each impact that formed a steady beat. "Now, let's turn it up a notch with Hydro Pump!" The trainer ordered, the Piplup jumped back and inhaled.

"Pip-" it started, then stopped. It was not really every day that a Piplup that only just began training a day ago would suddenly know hydro pump. Hydro looked up at his trainer with a look of confusion. "Plup?" it finished, its trainer looked just as confused, not understanding that moves do not suddenly come to be usable.

"Come on! You know, squirting water from your mouth. I've shown you the Gyrados doing it, right?" the trainer explained, referring to a video he had shown the Piplup on the day they met. Piplup thought about the video and tried again.

"Pip…" the penguin pokémon inhaled, his chest bulging, threatening to explode on him."Plup!" He shouted again, opening his mouth with a loud exhale. Five large bubbles emerged from the mouth, moving with considerable speed towards the tree before slowing down, the bubbles then began to rise, popping as they touched the branches of the treetops above. There was silence in the forest, the trainer stared, almost shocked.

"What… was…" he started, he paused, then recovered with a grin. "Bah! How did I forget?" he exclaimed, he scurried over to a bag nestled between the roots of a large tree behind him, pulling out a book titled "Raymond and Pachirisu; Road to Greatness". He opened up the book, and flipped through a few of its pages. "Of course, they started out small time, with weak moves. Looks like that bubble attack is what we are going to have to work up from for now. Let us try that attack again Hydro. And get a little closer." He explained, The Piplup inhaled once more, then exhaled with even more force than before, releasing six bubbles that all drifted into the tree's trunk, popping in a shower of water. The trainer let out a shout of triumph "Ha! Now we just have to keep working from there! Nothing's going to stop us from-"

"Turt! Tackle him!" a voice from behind shouted. The trainer barely had time to react as a large force rammed into his back, causing his knees to buckle and bring the trainer down. The trainer now found himself with his face in the dirt with a small, green turtle pokémon, with a sprout on its head and a yellow colored overbite, standing proudly on his back. The trainer sighed as he lifted his head up, bits of earth crumbling from his face like bits of a brownie would. A small chuckle tickled his ears, and it did not take a genius to know who the owner of the voice was.

"So, having fun are we? You definitely won't be too popular once that Turtwig of yours evolves…," the trainer groaned,

"That's why I have to deliver my message before that. Believe me Damian; it's for your own good." The voice replied, stepping around the fallen trainer and into his vision. For a young teenager, he was rather short and stout. His blonde hair in a buzz-cut fashion, and his green eyes did an excellent job of drawing attention away from his freckles. He wore a red t-shirt and a leather jacket along with jeans, all of which were too clean to be true. His name was Charles, though it was very rare for him to be addressed this way by anyone that knew him He was a snobbish kid who also played the role of the bully. He acquired his Turtwig earlier and began intimidating everyone else to not get pokémon, up until the point that Damian went and denied him.

"That tells me that you haven't dropped that charade yet? Well the answer is no, before you get started." Damian replied,

"Well I guess I should continue to remind you that you're never going to make it. Being a trainer requires more skill and understanding than you could ever comprehend." Charles explained, Damian sighed as his self-proclaimed mentor continued, "You remember that test in school, right? The one with those questions about pokémon types and weaknesses? The one you got a D on I mean. Clearly that proves you don't have the understanding to do much as a trainer, except be kiddy fodder." Charles stated, Damian could not help roll his eyes. The facts were true, but it would not make a difference in this situation even if he had aced that test.
"Furthermore, I happened to be the only one to get 95%, proving that I'm more ready for this than you, or anybody else, are." He continued,

"Hah! We call you a bully and yet you're the nerd?" Damian grinned, "just you wait until you see Hydro's power! He'll soak you until you melt like the witch you are" Damian boasted, brimming with confidence.

"Hydro?" Charles asked, pausing before continuing "Oh! You mean this cowardly little maggot?" he said, Damian saw him bend down and pick up the Piplup by the foot. The poor penguin was terrified out of its mind, shutting its eyes tight and huddling up as small as it possibly could. Damian thought he could handle a few words, but his temper fell short of containing these developments.

"You put him down now!" Damian shouted, suddenly getting on both feet, causing the Turtwig to roll off his back. Damian then charged towards his opposition in a fit of rage. "Hydro! Show him you're no pushover! Bubble him!" Damian shouted, the Piplup acted on instinct, exhaling three bubbles in the general direction he was facing, "Wait! No! Hydro stop!" Damian screamed, it was too late for him though. The three bubbles all made impact with Damian's chest and shoulders, causing a sharp sting as they exploded into sprays of molecular water droplets. Damian fell backwards and landed hard on his back. Turt delivered a sharp head butt into Damian's shoulder, adding to the pain.

"See Damian? You cannot even control your own pokémon. You're never going to get far with that recklessness." Charles smirked, tossing the still terrified Piplup onto Damian's belly as if it was a rag doll. "I've got to run along now, I appointed for a course at the Jubilife Trainer's School first thing tomorrow. Though when I come back next week, I would suggest turning Hydro over to me, since I could make better use of him than you could." Charles said, and then laughed as he disappeared into the trees with his Turtwig following close behind. Hydro sat up first, dismayed and embarrassed in front of its trainer, and sulked. This was Hydro's first form of any kind of oppression, so it left him pretty shaken. Damian however, took the incident in a very different way. Damian started to chuckle, and quickly brought himself to an uproarious laughter.

"Charlie, I should really owe you one; that was the best suggestion you've ever given. It looks like we're riding the same horse here." Damian laughed, and then winced as his shoulder began aching again. Damian then noticed his Piplup's worried face. "Ha, don't worry about it, He's done worse before." That did not help too much for his penguin partner. "Of course I won't give you up, you really think I'd want you going round and hurting people with those bubbles of yours? Even he agrees you shouldn't be underestimated." Damian comforted, this had a better effect on the Piplup's confidence, standing up and puffing its chest proudly, taking on some of the traits that its kind was famous for. Satisfied with Hydro's renewed spirits, Damian stood up himself, grabbed his tiny bag, and slung it over both shoulders. "Now, we're going to leave that jerk with something to think about. Not enough brains he says. That's what Jubilife is there for! Come on: We're going to beat him to the punch!" Damian shouted, then picked Hydro up with both hands, propped him on his shoulder, and took off, trying to find the route's main road. "All I have to do is follow the road up the slopes, and then I'll be in Jubilife in no time at all." Damian muttered to himself, "How hard could it be?"