[Pokémon] Silent Waves (PG-13)

[Tanookie]

Silent Waves.
Praise the sea; on shore remain.
- John Florio​

Table of Contents​

-: Prologue: Last Words, No Words
-: Chapter One: Paths Cross
*
*
*
*
*​

Prologue:
Last Words, No Words​

User ID: Hastings.A
Password: **********

One moment . . .

Welcome, Professor Hastings!

Arthur Hastings smiled. Now it was time to add the daily observations into his Egg Watch. While his computer booted up, he went to the glass cylinder that contained the Manaphy Egg. It was a clear blue with yellow markings around one end; inside was a red orb (presumably the embryo) that very slowly floated up and down. Hastings eyed it carefully. The speed of the embryo's floating hadn't changed at all in the past two weeks, and so far no other motion had been recorded. The egg had simply sat there, suspended in the watery chamber and mocking Hastings with its untold secrets.

Ah, the computer's loaded. Hastings began to type.

October 2nd: Day 16
The Egg is sublimely beautiful; it is a clear blue jelly at this point. On close observation, it can be seen shivering ever so subtly. The signs of life that stir in the Egg fill me with unexpected emotions.

It was the same thing that he had typed every day, he realized. Nothing had changed, nothing had happened, nothing had evolved. Perhaps it was time he transported the Egg to Sinnoh. He had spoken to a young colleague, a man named Elm, who called New Bark City of Johto his hometown. Elm was a tad scatterbrained, but very intelligent and knowledgeable, especially regard Pokémon hatching and breeding. According to Elm, Hastings would be wise to send the Manaphy egg to Sinnoh; Sandgem Town, more specifically. Another colleague, Professor Rowan, had recently returned from his journeys abroad and was now back in Sandgem; Hastings took this opportunity as the perfect chance to give the professor his 'coming home' present.

Hastings opened up his wireless transfer program and began to type a message that would electronically safely disassemble the Egg's particles and reassemble them in Rowan's lab. He quickly typed up the following message to send to the professor:

To: William Rowan
From: Arthur Hastings

I have a Manaphy Egg in my care. I am sending it to Sinnoh in the hopes that you will find a trainer worthy to raise it. If you are unwilling to give the Egg away, you may keep it and study it. I have no other choice than to send the Egg; the conditions here in Fiore are not ideal for Egg hatching (in fact, to the best of my knowledge, a Pokémon egg hasn't hatched here for centuries).

I wish you the best of luck in raising this Egg. The scholar in me wants you to study the Pokémon when it hatches, but the ranger in me merely wishes for Manaphy's safety. Either way, I implore you to keep the egg out of harm's way.

Suddenly there was an enormous crash from behind Hastings; he spun around and saw that the door had been flung open, clearly with great force. Standing in the doorway was a muscular man wearing a striped black and white shirt with a long blue overcoat and a blue bandana that was embroidered with a faded white logo that Hastings could see spelled out the letter A. He was bent over double and Hastings could tell he was out of breath.

"Alright, Hastings," he said, panting. "I'm tired and I don't want to hurt you. So just hand over that egg and you'll be fine."

"Do you honestly think I'll just hand over a rare Manaphy Egg like that?" Hastings asked disdainfully. "And I thought the Go-Rock Squad was bad…"

"Yeah, whatever," the man said, clueless, "but I guess it's time you learned how truly terrible Team Aqua can be!"

"Team…Aqua?"

"Go, Buizel and Sneasel!" The Poké Balls flew through the air as the man called them; one released an orange otter-like creature that had a yellow inflation sac around its neck, and the second revealed was a small black humanoid creature with sharp claws. The beast's teeth were bared and it looked ready to fight.

"Sneasel, get that egg!"

"Snee!" Moving so fast it was almost a blur, Sneasel ran to the egg's confinement chamber and began slashing at the glass with its claws. Hastings quickly pressed the SEND button on his computer to begin transporting the egg, and the lights around the chamber glowed as electricity pumped the transportation process.

"Buizel!" A jet of water shot from Buizel's mouth, hitting the computer and short-circuiting it; fortunately, the egg was already being transported as the water hit. The machine short-circuited for a moment and the lights flickered, but the egg did eventually fade away as the machine transported it. However, Hastings realized that, due to the momentary malfunction, there was a chance that the egg wouldn't end up in Sandgem at all…

"Damn it!" the Aqua member growled. "Where did you send that egg? Tell me!" He marched over to Hastings, grabbing the old man roughly by his shirt and lifting him fully off the floor. Sneasel and Buizel came over, leering threateningly at the professor as well.

"That, sir, will be a mystery for me to know and for you to never find out."

"I'm not playing, Hastings. Give me the egg!" Slowly and deliberately, the Aqua grunt pulled a gun from his pocket and held it to the old man's head. "Tell me…or I'll blow your brains out."

Hastings merely stared the Aqua member calmly in the face. "I'm prepared to carry my secret to the grave, sir."

The man smirked. "Famous last words, old man."

And he pulled the trigger.

- - - - - - - - - -​

On October 2nd at 7:22 PM , approximately four miles offshore the Sandgem Beach, a blue Pokémon egg materialized inches above the surface of the water. It hit the ocean and began to float with the tide lazily. A school of Chinchou led by three Lanturns swam over to examine this odd occurrence for a few moments before returning to their nightly routine.

A Finneon observed it curiously. A pair of Luvdisc leaped over the indigo waves, eyeing the egg as they sailed through the air in an affectionate embrace.

Tossed and turned by the sea's gentle current, the crimson embryo's movement slowly began to gain speed.

- - - - - - - - - -​

The next morning, Noah Parrish slowly wandered down the desolate edge of Sandgem Beach, his large brown eyes wandering across the ocean's azure horizon that was dappled with pinks and reds from the rising sun. He let out a sigh and sat down on a large boulder, picking up a soaked stick of driftwood and pulling it through the damp sand. Slowly he began to draw the outline of a mountain, perhaps…or maybe it was a castle.

Noah glanced down at the edge of the water and his eyes followed the rhythmic ebb and flow of the tide. His eyes moved back and forth as the hypnotic motions calmed him, the whispering water barely making it onto the land before running back to its zone of comfort with the rest of its aquatic brethren.

Above him, a flock of Wingull cawed in unison as they soared above Sandgem and out over the sea, probably to mate. Noah remembered reading somewhere that Wingull mated at sea and then came back to lay their eggs. The cacophony was soothing to Noah's ears, somehow. This part of the day was his favorite. No people, no noises, just the ocean, the Pokémon, and him. After all, it was the closest Noah ever got to Pokémon, excluding Barney, Mama's spoiled pet Snubbull whom Noah found completely impossible to be around.

He always wondered why Dad had gotten Mama a Snubbull as a wedding present. The pink dog was not only spoiled and short-tempered, but Mama fawned over him nonstop and usually put him as her top priority after the family. So whenever Dad had to leave on a trip, Mama never went with him, claiming Barney was seasick and he "would absolutely die without his mummy!" And Mama never let Noah out of her sight, so no Mama meant no Noah. It was always fine, though. Noah didn't mind staying at home. He was perfectly happy at home with Mama; Dad always sent postcards by carrier Pidgey or would call them whenever his ship made port.

Currently, Dad was at home, probably sleeping. Noah had always had a bad habit of waking up early. Currently, according to his Pokétch, it was 6:11. His blue Pokétch was his most prized possession, a tenth birthday present from his dad. "Since you can't be a trainer," Dad had said, "I've giving you the next best thing. I'm sure Barney wouldn't mind pretending to be your Pokémon for a bit."

Noah would only smile at the thought of Barney actually getting off his custom-made bed and getting himself dirty.

During these quiet morning hours, Noah often wondered what it would be like to be a Pokémon trainer. Even though he was the required age of ten, Noah had never received a trainer license and wasn't ever allowed to become a trainer. He went to Professor Rowan's lab often and watched the perky new trainers choose their starters and walk away with a Pokédex and either a Piplup, Chimchar, or Turtwig. He wanted to be a trainer quite badly, actually, but his mother was mostly responsible for keeping him at home. She was a kind woman, but a tad overbearing at times (a fact most evident in Barney)…hence why she wouldn't let Noah leave Sandgem without her: she was scared her little boy would get lost and end up in some sort of danger.

Noah would have been happier if there were at least some people his age to hang out with. But everyone was either busy on their Pokémon journey or too young to play with him. They eyed him curiously as he read books or wandered the beach by himself and didn't answer when they called out to him.

As his thoughts faded and he found himself back in the sand, he saw that he had been drawing while thinking about something completely different. Now the subject of his sand art was clear to him: it was a palace. He was about to start admiring all the details he had unknowingly drawn when a large wave rushed in, erased his artwork, and retreated, its cruel roaring laughter echoing in Noah's ears. Frowning, Noah stood and stared out at the sea, preparing to leave.

Another wave washed upon the beach, and when it pulled back, there was something left behind in the sand that caught Noah's eye.

Noah wasn't sure what it was exactly, but its appearance was quite remarkable. It was large and blue and oval-shaped, kind of like an egg. The thing was kind of clear but muddled, like Noah was staring into a filter. The blue oval had yellow marks surrounding it, and inside the blue oval itself was a fluid like water; inside this fluid, a tiny red sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball slowly bobbed up and down.

Curious, Noah crouched down and poked the item; it felt almost like stiff jelly. He was afraid he would put a dent in it if he pushed too hard, so he pulled his finger back and lifted the object. It was rather light and firm once it held it in his arms, and it was moist. Obviously from the ocean, Noah thought. As he stared at the object, Noah felt himself overcome by a sense of peace and well-being, as if nothing in the world could upset him right now. It washed over his body like a cool wave, refreshing and invigorating him and still keeping him calm. The sounds of the world faded away; even the waves were silent.

For the first time in his life, holding this alien object, Noah didn't feel afraid, lonely, or sad. He actually felt…happy.​

 

[Dagzar]

Hi, I'll be your reviewer today! :)

"Go, Buizel and Sneasel!" The Poké Balls flew through the air (a device Hastings was not familiar with at all)-

This seems far-fetched since Poke Balls are pretty much everywhere. You can't not be familiar to them. Also, the sentence itself might need a bit of reworking since the first time I read it, I was like, 'Huh? What, do Poke Balls not exist here? Is this some weird alternate universe?' I dunno, I think it's because you used 'device', which implies it isn't something Hastings has ever seen before.

On October 2nd at 7:22 PM , approximately four miles offshore the Sandgem Beach, a blue Pokémon egg materialized inches above the surface of the water.

Now, I'm probably just nitpicking, but doesn't the teleportation thing work between two devises and objects can be teleported to and from the machines? I dunno, that's what it looked like from the anime, so I'm bringing it up.

After all, it was the closest Noah ever got to Pokémon, excluding Barney, his mother's spoiled pet Snubbull whom Noah found completely impossible to be around.

In the next paragraph, you have Noah constantly refer to his mother as 'Mama', but here, it's 'mother'. It seems weird.

Anyways, you have a good start here! You description's excellent, not overblown, but also not underwhelming, and I'm really interested to see what happens next. The ending could have been better since it seemed rather jarring to suddenly end like that, though it also frustrates me because I want to read more and there's nothing left. D:

I see no grammar errors, which is good, and it seems you have everything under control.

I'm interested in reading more, so keep up the good work!

 

[Tanookie]

Thanks for the review! Glad you liked it, too! I've actually written up to Chapter Four, but I'm not going to post it all at once so I can keep people interested. :)

- I figured that since Hastings was a ranger and lived in Fiore that he wouldn't know Poke Balls too well, but...granted, I did start this story like two years ago and I haven't gotten around too much to editing it. There's my freshman idiocy shining through there... *goes off to edit*
- When Hastings was transporting the egg, the Buizel shot it with water, causing the device to malfunction somewhat. The egg was still transported, just...not completely? XD
- Whoops, didn't catch that! I think I put it as "mother" because that sentence was a more omniscient POV than Noah's thoughts actual thoughts, but I'll probably change that too!

 

[Tanookie]

Chapter One:​

Paths Cross​

Kate Winters gazed down at the five gleaming ribbons in her case. After traversing the entire continent of Sinnoh and tirelessly working on her appeals, she was now prepared to enter the Sinnoh Grand Festival! Her lavender bag swung over her shoulder contained her six Poké Balls, and the PokéGear around her neck currently displayed a map of the route between Jubilife City and Sandgem Town.

"Bip…" Kate said softly to the Mime Jr. that was sitting next to her, "don't you think this is kinda demeaning? I mean, Kate Winters, Sinnoh's best up-and-coming coordinator…delivering parcels? For shame, mother!" She and Bip both laughed.

"Mime, mime, mime!" he agreed before settling himself down by her leg and mimicking her relaxed pose. "Mime…" he sighed happily, stretching his arms and basking in the warm sunlight. Bip preferred to stay outside his Poké Ball, and he was still a baby, so she usually carried him or let him ride with her to keep him happy.

She glanced down at her PokéGear and studied it; judging by the distance between the two towns, it would take about four or five hours to get there by bike. It was two o'clock and she'd been traveling for about an hour, so she'd get there around six or seven. She'd been to Sandgem before, so it wasn't like she was visiting a new place. At least it wasn't far from her hometown, otherwise she probably would have flat-out refused to go.

Kate lifted her bike off the tree she had placed it against and hopped back on, tossing her bag into the basket on the front alongside the parcel and carefully refolded town map. She placed Bip carefully amongst her bag and the box and then began to pedal down a small incline, picking up speed and enjoying the cool autumn air. She glanced up and saw a Starly fixing her nest and a group of Kricketot humming a beautiful tune.

Kate inhaled the air deeply and exhaled slowly. Life was good.

Of course, as she closed her eyes to enjoy the air, she became completely oblivious to the fact that she was beginning to swerve off the rather narrow path. A voice yelled "Look out!" to Kate; the girl's gray eyes shot open just in time to see that she was heading straight for a tre.

"Mime mime!" Bip shouted in alarm.

Kate managed to avoid a head-on collision by swerving the bike away, but she still ended up hitting a large protruding root that made her lose her balance and tip over. Kate fell onto her side and scraped her knee, but she still managed to sit up against the tree to rub dirt out of her ebony hair that was currently tied in a ponytail. She grabbed Bip, who was lying on his side in the basket, and held him to her chest, cooing words of support; he was, luckily, unhurt.

When the trainer moved into her vision, Kate's eyes began to burn and she realized dirt had gotten into them. She quickly took off her contacts and rubbed her eyes to clear them, but when she found out the dirt was on the contacts, not her eyes, she merely placed them in their case and put on her glasses instead.

It felt odd, wearing glasses; she had only begun wearing contacts recently but already they had molded to her; the glasses felt bulky and alien to her face now. However, she always kept them close at hand in case something happened to her contacts. Once her vision was clear, she could see that the trainer was male, probably in his late teens and wore a black and white striped shirt. A blue bandana covered tufts of chestnut hair that stuck out and he had a blue overcoat on, probably to keep out the incoming cold wind.

"Are you alright?" he asked, extending a hand to help her up. Kate graciously accepted the gesture and brushed some stray twigs off her denim skirt. She quickly realigned her bike and gave the man a polite nod of appreciation.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, walking back to the path. Bip repeated her nod and trailed behind her before she placed him back into the bike's basket. The man smiled back; but when she turned to leave she could feel that he was watching her go. She slowly spun around and the trainer smiled.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I was just reading the back of your shirt. Sunyshore Institute of Battle and Coordinating?"

Kate laughed. "S-I-B-C!" she agreed cheerfully, Bip miming a school cheer beside her. "I graduated about a year ago."

"Well, then, you must be pretty good," the man replied, giving her a nod. "Do you mind if I see some of your Pokémon in action?"

Kate blinked. "A battle? Well, I'm more into coordinating, actually…"

"You have to battle in contests, don't you?"

Taken aback by this man's quick reply, Kate shrugged and laid her bike on the side of the road once again. Bip hopped out of the basket and Kate placed him on her shoulder. "I guess one battle won't hurt…" she muttered. "Professor Rowan can wait, I'm sure." Pulling a Poké Ball out of her bag, she said, "But we'll just do one-on-one, okay?"

The man smiled. "Fine by me." He tossed out a Poké Ball and cried out, "Alright, Buizel! I choose you!"

Kate pulled her first Poké Ball off her belt and launched it skywards. "Lucinda, spotlight's on you!" The red capsule covered in stickers spun in the air until it hit the ground, releasing a large violet gas cloud that a Misdreavus came flying out of. It faded out of existence before appearing beside Kate and looking at the Buizel with a rather disinterested look. "Missss…." it said slowly.

"Buizel, use Water Gun!"

"Bui!" A jet of icy water shot out at high speed from Buizel's open mouth, its pressure relatively equivalent to that of a fire hose.

"Quick, Double Team!" Kate called.

Immediately ten copies of Lucinda appeared in a circle around Buizel, chanting their name for a rather haunting effect. The water shot straight through one Misdreavus and it disappeared—a copy. Buizel looked from one to the other, unsure of which ghost to attack.

"Buizel, pick one!" the man commanded. "And hit it with Aqua Jet!"

"Use Shadow Ball!" As soon as Buizel shot forward, covered in water, the copies of Lucinda disappeared and the real Lucinda came up behind Buizel as it soared through the air and hit the ground. Lucinda gathered dark energy in front of her, forming it into a gaseous violet and black orb, and hurled it at the otter Pokémon; it made direct contact and Buizel was thrown forward. Buizel quickly turned around and used another Aqua Jet, which Lucinda was surely unable to dodge.

The two Pokémon collided and Lucinda was flung backwards through the air, but the ghost Pokémon managed to quickly right herself in midair. Kate yelled "Payback!" and a large burst of violet light flew out of Lucinda's body, surrounding her as she flew towards Buizel with a blinding speed. The attack, having been used right after Lucinda was struck, was especially powerful, so it managed sapping even more of Buizel's strength.

Before Buizel had any chance to retaliate or even move its weakened body, Kate ordered Lucinda to use Shadow Ball one last time. It struck home once more, and this time Buizel was out for good. The man held out his Poké Ball and called the otter back, placing it back on his belt and going over to give Kate a congratulatory handshake. "Congratulations," he said. "Most people don't beat my Buizel that easy."

"Well, thanks!" Kate exclaimed, pushing her glasses up her nose as she bounced up and down in excitement. Actually, it wasn't that great; Buizel had been rather easy to beat. Of course, she had had good training. "I gotta get going," she said as she recalled Misdreavus and got back on her bike. "Bye!" she said in a chipper voice. The sun was starting to dip lower; she pedaled back down the road towards Sandgem, leaving the man behind without a second glance.

- - - - - - - - - -​

​

Damn, she was good. Then again, she did go to that school. Why doesn't Archie let us go to those kinds of places instead of that stupid boot camp?!

Brad felt like he should have really let her have it and used his Sneasel, which happened to be his strongest Pokémon. Buizel was his weakest, but he didn't expect the girl to be that good. If she was oblivious enough to hit a tree…

After losing the Manaphy egg, he had been assigned to visiting Sandgem and had actually had been following the girl since he discovered she was headed the same way. After their technician had hacked Hastings' assistant's computer back in Fiore, they discovered correspondence between Hastings and a certain Professor Rowan. Apparently he lived in Sinnoh, so Archie had wasted no time chartering a private boat to Canalave. Top speed, first-class: Brad had gotten to Canalave in less than seven hours.

As he began to stroll down the path, he wondered what the girl could be delivering to Rowan that was so important. Could it be the Manaphy egg? Maybe Hastings had sent it to someone else besides Rowan to throw Team Aqua off the trail; they couldn't salvage Hastings' transmission data, so there was no way of telling whether or not he had actually sent it to Rowan or not.

Perhaps his Buizel's attack had messed the machine up, though. Brad wasn't a genius, but it was still common knowledge that electricity and water didn't exactly go together. After all, that was why Aqua's base was hydro-powered: it cut many of the risks that came with using electric-types or batteries.

Brad turned on his cell phone, which was black and bore the Aqua logo, and hit the speed dial for Archie.

The phone rang once…twice…three times…Archie finally picked up.

"Hello?" Archie's voice was like water; it always seemed calm, but beneath the surface some emotion seemed to be lurking. This time, Brad could feel anxiety in Archie's voice; their leader was clearly ready to get this egg so they could continue their pursuit of Kyogre.

"Sir," Brad quickly informed him, "I've found a girl traveling to Sandgem who seems suspicious. She's carrying a parcel to Rowan and I have reasons to suspect she may be carrying the egg." He left out the fact that his 'reasons' were merely speculations, but he wanted to sound good in front of the boss.

Even on the phone, Brad could tell Archie was smiling. "Good work, Brad. Track her down and obtain whatever she's taking to Rowan."

The line went dead. Brad flipped his phone shut and released his Murkrow, Dante. "Follow that girl, Dante," Brad commanded, "and come back to me prepared to bring me to f her location."

"Murkrow!" Dante shrieked in reply, and he took to the sky, his black wings harshly contrasting with the warm colors of the setting sun. Dante was the only Pokémon that actually belonged to him. He had been given the Buizel, as well as other Pokémon, to help complete his team roster. He would hopefully be able to trade in Buizel for a stronger Pokémon soon if Archie was pleased with his efforts; Team Aqua had dozens of extras.

Of course, once they had Manaphy, they would have even more Pokémon on hand. With Manaphy, even catching Kyogre would be easy. Perhaps after that, even legendary Pokémon like Suicune could be a nice bonus…but Suicune was nearly impossible to locate, as it was constantly on the move and almost never allowed itself to be seen; thanks to their contacts in Johto, however, Team Aqua had been told of a young man obsessed with Suicune whose aid they could probably 'recruit.'

Brad really hoped this operation would go smoothly. Brad didn't exactly like using guns…Hastings had just been impertinent. And Brad disliked impertinence more than he disliked using guns.

- - - - - - - - - -​

Kate sped into Sandgem at about six-thirty that evening, braking harshly in front of Rowan's lab before grabbing the parcel and Bip. She was heading for the doors when a small shape caught her eye standing near the side wall of the lab. Curious, Kate inched closer, and she could see it was a boy.

The boy was extremely tiny with mousy brown hair and large, prominent eyes that were currently staring into Rowan's lab, a look of slight envy in their hazel depths. The boy's nose was pressed to the glass and he was clutching an odd blue item in his arms. Kate approached the boy, and he jumped when he realized she was right next to him. He didn't scream but gasped instead.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kate said nervously, afraid she had frightened him. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I was just wondering why you were outside here." No reply; the boy still stared at her, completely petrified. "You can go inside, you know. I'm sure Rowan would love to see whatever that is you're holding."

The boy said nothing; he merely clutched the object tighter to his chest and turned back to the window. Bip gave the boy an odd look and hopped onto the windowsill to observe what the boy was holding. The boy merely turned away from Bip, who sadly walked over to Kate and shrugged his shoulders.

"Mime…"

"Oh, I see," Kate said jokingly, "you want it for yourself."

The boy ignored her; he merely continued staring through the window. Kate guessed he was afraid of Rowan, and she didn't blame him—the man was very blunt, and quite large in stature. Combined with his rough voice and general harsh appearance, it was no wonder the kid didn't want to go inside. She slowly walked to the little boy's side, and noticed his head barely reached the window. She stared inside to what the professor was doing; he was currently reading some sort of message on his computer.

"Well," she said to the boy, "I've got to go in and deliver a package to the professor. I'll let him know you want to come in if you're scared of him. What do you need?"

The boy turned to face Kate and looked at her imploringly. Sighing, he resigned himself to walking behind her and followed her into the lab. Holding the parcel by its string, Kate opened the door and walked in, being careful to hold it open for the timid little boy.

"Professor?" she called in the dim light. "I've got a delivery for you."

"Who is that?" Rowan called back, still immersed in his computer.

"Kate Winters," Kate replied.

"Mime!" Bip exclaimed indignantly while crossing his arms. Kate chuckled.

"And Bip." After a moment's thought she added, "There's a little kid here too, but I don't know his name."

"Well, I don't have any more starters," Rowan informed them, taking on a tone of business as he referred to the little boy. "You'll have to come back on Monday. I'll have more then."

Kate glanced to the little boy and he stared into her eyes, giving her the uncomfortable feeling that her mind and emotions were being read. "…I don't think he wants a starter," she said after a moment's hesitation. She was about to continue speaking and tell Rowan about the little boy's object, but he interrupted her with a realization of his own.

"Wait a moment…Kate Winters!" Rowan exclaimed, appearing at their side almost instantaneously. "Your mother sent you, correct?" Even when asking such a simple question, he was all business: his posture was rigid; his hands were clasped behind his back.

Kate nodded. "Here you go." She held out the parcel; Rowan took it from her and opened it quickly, right in front of their eyes.

"Ah, yes," he said contentedly as he ripped the brown paper off the box. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

In his hand he clutched a large box of Ramen noodles. "Did you know that Jubilife is the only place you can buy these?" he asked Kate incredulously. "I've been telling Ms. Sanders—she runs our PokéMart—that she needs to get this brand in, which is much better than the kind we have here." His eyes brightened and his mustache crinkled, giving Kate a smile that made him seem like a familiar old relative. But it quickly disappeared and he was once again the normal, intimidating Rowan.

"So, who's the little boy that's here?'

"I don't know who he is," Kate replied, "but he's really shy, so he's hiding behind me…" she turned around, but the boy was gone. "Or… he was behind me. I wonder where he went?"

"Well, he can come back and talk to me tomorrow," Rowan said. "I've got to fix myself some dinner. In the meantime, perhaps you should find a place to stay as well, Kate. I'm sure the Pokémon Center will have extra beds. And here," he said as Kate turned to leave, "take this as thanks for traveling all the way over here."

He tossed her a bag of noodles. Kate took the bag and grinned. "Thanks!" she exclaimed, and Bip rubbed his belly happily. Rowan laughed and waved them goodbye as they left the lab.

Outside, the sun was almost finished setting. She walked over to her bike, but in the gloom she didn't noticed the Murkrow that was perched on her bike until it was right in front of her, pecking at her bag and handlebars.

"Hey, shoo!" she cried, running at the bird and waving her hands. "Get off my bike!"

Irritated, the Murkrow flapped its wings and shot up into the dark sky, cackling its name loudly and harshly. Sighing, Kate put the noodles in her bag and looked back at the nearly invisible retreating form of Murkrow.

"I wonder why that was here…" she wondered aloud. She turned to Bip. "I thought Murkrow lived in the Eterna Forest. Why would one be all the way out here in Sandgem?"

Bip merely shrugged his shoulders. "Mime?"

"Guess it belonged to someone…" Still staring at the invisible path the Murkrow took, Kate thought about the little boy that had run out of the lab. Where was he now? She began riding her bike towards the Pokémon Center when she saw him standing on the beach alone. Kate got off the bike, pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, and walked over the boy a second time. This time, the boy didn't try to run away. He merely stared at her with those large eyes of his.

Kate crouched down in front of the boy so that he was on eye level with her. "Why'd you run away from the professor? He's not as scary as he looks, trust me." She smiled. From her shoulder, Bip nodded. "I'll walk in with you and make sure the professor doesn't scare you too much, okay, sweetie?"

After a moment's hesitation, the little boy jerked his head up and down once. "I'm Kate," she told him. "And this is Bip." The Mime Jr. made a very theatrical bow as he proudly said his name. "What's your name?" she asked.

The boy didn't answer. He merely looked up at Kate, his face expressionless.

"You don't have to be so shy, you know," she informed him softly. "I don't bite."

The boy still said nothing. Then, slowly, he removed his hand from Kate's grasp and brought it up to his throat. He patted it very gently twice, and immediately Kate understood. He then made a few odd gestures with one hand, to which Kate smiled sadly.

"Sorry…I can't read sign language."

The little boy looked crestfallen for a moment, but his eyes brightened when he spotted a stick near his feet. He took it and dragged it through the sand, spelling out four letters: N-O-A-H.

"Noah?" She looked to him, and he nodded vigorously. "Aw, that's such a nice name!" she said happily, rubbing the boy's hair. Then, slowly, his lips curved into a soft smile. No teeth showed and it was very small, but it still touched Kate in a way no child had ever touched her before. Kate extended her hand to Noah, and he slowly brought his hand up to grip it softly.

"Well then, Noah," Kate said in an eager and confident voice, "let's go show Professor Rowan your treasure."

Noah's smile widened for a brief moment, and nodded with certainty. When Kate began walking back to the lab, Noah didn't walk behind her. He walked right by her side.

 

[Dagzar]

Review time! I was going to review this the day you posted, but my wisdom teeth had been pulled and a considerable amount of pain prevented me from really doing anything. But now I'm better, so here we go!

"Follow that girl, Dante," Brad commanded, "and come back to me prepared to bring me to f her location."

This sentence reads odd to me. It seems like you have an extra phrase stuck in there. That, and the 'f' needs getting rid of (unless it's the swearword, then it should be capitalized).

In his hand he clutched a large box of Ramen noodles.

I snickered here. Poor Kate, biking five hours to Sandgem just to deliver food.

Then, slowly, he removed his hand from Kate's grasp and brought it up to his throat.

Ah, now things are making sense! He's not on his journey because his mother is only being rightfully protective since he can't talk himself out of trouble. I like this trait of Noah's; I've never seen a mute main character before. I like Kate too, and her interactions with Noah are pretty cute!

Things are looking really interesting so far. I can't wait to read more! :)

 

[Krystallyn]

Haha. I like Kate and Noah. I read the first chapter, but forgot to comment. Sorry. I really like where you're going with this storyline, though.