Hey everybody, and welcome to the final installment of from rookie to champion. This fic (as well as Lucky Charms) is my last little pinch of fanfic writing, so i hope you all appreciate it. Chapters are up on Monday and Thursday, but the next is up on thursday, then monday, then thursday and so forth.

Gather round, as our story begins...all the way on a little Island called Pontarico...

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The Indigo Road
Chapter 01 - Stronger Than Yesterday
By Shinymarill

“Umbreon, attack!”

Chris stood there with his faithful Umbreon. A few black hairs were seen poking out of his chin, and there were light scabs and scars seen on his top lip, no doubt from shaving. Tim stood on the other end of the arena with his Marcargo, Rocky.

“Rocky! Ember attack!” Tim roared. He wore the same red zip-up jacket and the same red trousers, but it was plainly obvious he changed t-shirts during the past five months. He had three Pokeballs down his left leg and two down his right; Rocky’s Pokeball was in his hand.

“Marcargo!” Rocky roared, blasting a boiling chunk of molten rock at Umbreon. The rock picked up speed and shot across the field at Chris’ slinky Pokemon.

“Evasive moves! One! Two!” Chris shouted, his voice becoming hoarse. Umbreon leapt to the left, as the molten rock slammed into the ground and simmered. Umbreon was hit by a consecutive molten rock from Rocky, though, and fell to the ground.

“Now body slam!” Tim followed up. Marcargo moved rather quickly along the grass and launched his slimy body into the air; globule’s of lava drooping from his chin. He flew forward and prepared to swallow up Umbreon with his fiery, blobby body.

“Agility!” Chris roared. His voice had become a lot deeper in the last few months but it was a subtle and unnoticed change. Umbreon became a blur as he picked himself off the ground and tore across the field, Marcargo collapsing in a heap.

“Get him! Psybeam!” Chris said, seizing the opportunity to attack. Umbreon held his mouth back as he leapt in the air, and a large beam of multicoloured energy formed, before blasting out and firing at Marcargo.

“Use flare,” Tim uttered. He clenched his free fist, and ran along the large field as the battle started to move along the large space.

Marcargo created a wall of fire that blocked the Psybeam. He then spat another molten rock at Umbreon, hitting him in the stomach. Umbreon received a burn on his stomach and collapsed on the floor.

“Umbreon!” Chris cried, running along the field and catching up with his Pokemon. “Are you Ok?”

Chris cradled Umbreon as best he could and examined the burn.
“That’s a relatively weak burn,” He said soothingly. “We’ll go and treat it”

Chris recalled Umbreon in the oh-so-familiar Moon ball. He had four Pokeballs on his belt; Electabuzz’ normal red and white Pokeball; Granbull’s dark blue and white great ball, Umbreon’s moon ball and Kecleon’s fast ball. Noctowl, which Chris had caught early on in his Pokemon journey, had decided to sleep a lot, and his Pokeball was kept in the kitchen for absolutely no reason. Noctowl had also started to re-adapt to the life of waking up at night and hunting. Now he had become rather useless as a Pokemon, so Chris kept him in the reserve.

The reserve. This was another big change in the Haruka residence over the past 5 months. Chris’ dad worked as a Pokemon doctor and had won a large cash sum after helping in an accident involving Mayor Madison’s Hitmonlee. He was awarded a cheque in public, which he had used a minority of to buy the field behind their house. This had then been changed dramatically to a Pokemon reserve for Mr and Mrs. Haruka’s three children’s Pokemon. Well, there was Brett as well, but he was the Gym Leader in Olivine City, and he was 19, so he wasn’t at home anymore.

The reserve was beautiful; a massive Oak tree lay in the middle, which Noctowl perched in happily. Next to it was a large pond, which Suzie’s (Chris’ older sister; Tim’s twin sister’s) Starmie swam in peacefully. Suzie’s Rapidash, named Corona, also raced around the field with Tim’s burly Donphan and many of their Pokemon.

However, this was separated from the Haruka’s garden by a large row of fir trees. Three had been cut down (To Brett’s disgust via E-mail) to make way for a wooden gate leading to the reserve.

Chris’ Wurmple had evolved, too. It was now a pearly white Cascoon and lay right by the tiny pond in the garden. It had a few plants in it, but Cascoon kept its red eyes locked onto the pond all day.

Chris had also caught a Weezing in his travels; this seemingly useless Pokemon (aside from helping Chris in his Semi-final, and also losing Chris’ Semi-final match of the Miami League) sat jammed in-between two branches of the large Oak tree in the reserve. She came out often to either eat fruit or talk to the other Pokemon, and Chris had noticed his Mom really seemed to like her.

One more Pokemon Chris had ‘caught’ in the Miami Islands was Wobbuffet; he had come home with Chris after they built a strong friendship, but Chris had found that he preferred cooking with his Mom than actually battling or doing anything with Chris. Wobbuffet did look really funny with a chef’s hat and an apron on, but it felt empty being without him.

“Hey Dad! Can I borrow some burn heal?” Chris asked, walking through the kitchen and arriving in the living room. Chris’ dad lifted the paper down and folded it on the table.

“You know, you should carry some around” He said, tutting. Chris followed his father as he walked upstairs to his room.

Chris’ dad was tall and had brown hair. He was wearing a blue-buttoned shirt and had jeans on, and wore a pair of black socks. Chris’ dad had brown eyes, like himself. Chris’ dad brought from his room a bottle of red liquid. It had a fire symbol on a blue sticker and was able to be sprayed.

“Thanks” Chris said, running off down the stairs.
Chris arrived in the living room; the house didn’t really have doors but arches connecting rooms together. He lay Umbreon on one of the red sofas and sprayed him with the burn heal.

Umbreon flinched slightly, but soon relaxed. Chris sprayed three shots and started to rub it in gently. Umbreon closed his eyes a little bit. Tim walked in and slumped down infront of the TV, turning it on.

“Alright! Pokemon wrestling” He said, leaning forward. Chris watched as a Machamp smashed his fists into a gothie Jynx. The Jynx then used a perish song and started to make the Machamp drowsy, before lifting up her skirt and making Machoke puke.

“Weird” Chris muttered, recalling Umbreon. His Mom walked through from the kitchen with some mail to give Chris.

“A letter” She said impressively, handing it to Chris. Confused, Chris tore the seal off it and brought the letter out.

*

Megan

“We’ve been walking for ages,” I said, as me and Jet proceeded through the Forest of Donwurray Island. The forest was rather sparse but it still made me shiver slightly. I kept walking through the wood; glad I was with Jet and not on my own.

It was rather scary; thick dark trees bore their scratched faced before us, but we had a mission, and so be it our duty to fulfil it.

“I’m sure we’ll find that stupid bird,” Jet mumbled. He hadn’t shaved in days and looked absolutely terrible. We had been assigned a mission to trace Articuno and catch it. However, we were also informed that one tail feather from the elusive bird would be just as valuable.

We had been walking for a long time but had seen no sign of it yet. Apparently Articuno flew from a variety of Islands around the world, and Donwurray Island was one of the roosting spots.

I brushed some ferns out of my hair and looked as we arrived at a cave. This was the perfect fairytale setting for a mysterious bird. I was waiting with anticipation as Jet hurled his Pokeball out. His ever-faithful Foretress appeared before us.

“Use explosion!” Jet cried. Foretress clung to the side of the cave and started to glow a brimming white. Within seconds, he used a huge explosion into the side of the cave, causing it to collapse, unfortunately.

“Whoops” Jet mumbled. “Foretress, are you Ok?”
Before Foretress could reply, a shimmering blue glow rose from the cave mouth, and Articuno gracefully flapped his wings and appeared out of it.

“Get it!” Jet cried. Foretress leapt forward but Articuno blasted an ice beam from his beak and froze Foretress into a solid block of ice. He smashed onto the floor, but the ice remained as solid as ever.

“Foretress!” Jet cried. He got out his next Pokeball, but Articuno blasted another ice beam at Jet and managed to freeze him, too. He stood there in his angry stance, a Pokeball held out. I felt so sorry for him.

“Jet!” I cried. However, Articuno soon spread his wings and started to fly away! I knew this opportunity was ripe at the moment, so I plucked a Pokeball from my belt.

“Vileplume, attack!” I shouted. Vileplume came out of her Pokeball and gave me the thumbs up. She faced the disappearing Articuno. She fired two vines from her body and managed to wrap them around Articuno. I yelled with success!

“Try a pollen whirlwind,” I said. However, Vileplume pulled Articuno back only to find a long, slender, blue feather. He had escaped! Vileplume dropped the feather, which I graciously slipped into my belt. I had to admit; it looked pretty good there!

“What is he doing?” I asked Vileplume. Where we plucked the tail feather, a light snowy powder flowed from behind as he flew off. It froze the roots in the ground and started to freeze trees.

“Oh boy” I said. “He’s using a powder snow!”

Articuno flapped through the Miami Islands, powder snow spilling from his tail.

*


Dear Chris,
How are things? I hope everybody is Ok. Cascoon would be a perfect Pokemon to study if you would let me. I hope you can bring him round.

At this present time, I have something I would like you to see. I have a rare Pokemon that I am sure you would love to examine with me! Krystal is coming as well, goodbye!

Professor Helmsworth

“It’s from the Professor” Chris said, reading it over again. “Wants me to take Cascoon to the lab and also wants me to pop round and see some rare Pokemon”

“Great” Chris’ Mom said. “Have a nice time”
“I will” Chris said. He grabbed a great ball on the kitchen counter and ran outside. He approached the pond with caution as he held the ball out.

“Cascoon return!” He cried, recalling the grumpy Pokemon. It had a tendency to use its spike cannon a lot on Chris whenever he approached, so Chris had usually left it to be on its own.

“I’ll be off then,” Chris shouted, leaving via the front door. As he closed it, he looked out at Pontaricò town. It was pretty nice. However, it was a ten-minute walk across the town towards Professor Helmsworth’s laboratory.

“I wish I still had Nidoking” Chris grumbled, thinking about his Pokemon on Trueman Island. He could have ridden Chris along to the lab in absolutely no time. He started to walk, when a shadow rose over his body.

“Hey…” He mumbled, looking up. A large orange dragon soared over him, before turning and swooping down towards the ground. Chris watched in anticipation as he saw one of his best friends appear before him…

“Krystal!” Chris called, waving. She flew down on her large orange dragon.
“Come on” She cried. “We’ll get there quicker”

Chris clambered aboard and held onto her hips as Charizard took off into the sky. Krystal hadn’t changed really, but instead of her white lab coat she now wore a black cape over a red t-shirt.

“How are you?” She asked, keeping her eyes focused on flying to the lab. “Been doing much?”

“Not really, you?” Chris asked. Krystal nodded.
“I have decided to try and join the Dragon Tamers,” She said, handing Chris a brochure. It showed a man standing with a Dragonite by his side. Silhouettes of Latias and Latios were seen behind him.

“You always had your eyes on dragons, didn’t you?” Chris said. “How is the team?”
“Very small now” Krystal said. “Kimi decided to go off back to Kanto with Brock and start her own breeding place with him, so I said she could take Espeon and Steelix to work on”

“Steelix?” Chris inquired. “Won’t that be a challenge?”
“I hope so,” Krystal said. She had never got on with Kimi too much. “So, how was your birthday?”

Chris had turned 14 on January 3rd, and Krystal had sent him six Ultra balls.
“Great thanks” Chris said. “Me and Calvin went bowling”

“Oh” Krystal said emptily, sad she had been left out.
“I was going to ask you, but I didn’t know your address or your phone number” Chris said, blushing.

“It’s Ok” Krystal said, as they landed infront of the lab. Marill was in her arms, and as Krystal set her down, she began talking to Kecleon about their adventures.

As the two entered the laboratory, Professor Helmsworth greeted them. He still had wispy white hair and a wrinkled face, but Chris had a great deal of respect for him either way.

“Hello!” He cried. “So good to see you both in such good health”
“Hey Professor” Krystal said.
“Hi there” Chris said.

“I thought I should show you this very unique Pokemon that I was sent by my grandson Jonathon” Helmsworth said. He led them up a spiral oak staircase to a room with a battle arena.

“How about I show you his skills in the battlefield, Chris?” Helmsworth said, grinning broadly. He got out an Orange and white Pokeball and maximised it. “Smeargle, GO!”

He sent the ball as far as he could hurl it (which was actually a good distance). The ball hit the floor and shot back into the air, opening and pouring white light from it. The light then took the shape of Smeargle, who had a thin slender tail with a brush on the end. He resembled a beagle dog, and had a sort of beret on his head.

“Smeargle” He said hoarsely.
“I choose you, Kecleon!” Chris shouted, as his friend leapt onto the arena.

“Smeargle! Use Mega punch!” Helmsworth roared. Smeargle started to chant his name as his fist glowed a deep blue colour. He held it up and then started to follow through by pushing it forward through the air at Kecleon.

“Run!” Chris shouted. Kecleon got on all fours and ran out of the way. Smeargle turned, frowned, and tried again. He thrust his glowing fist forward at Kecleon with a lot of power.

“That thing looks strong” Krystal warned Chris. “It’s had a lot of experience!”
“I can tell” Chris said, clenching a fist. “Kecleon! Faint attack!”

He and Kecleon had worked on this attack. Kecleon disappeared, leaving only his bold red stripe to be seen. Smeargle frowned harder and tried to concentrate on distinguishing Kecleon’s body.

“Use lock on!” Helmsworth called. Smeargle held his tail and ran forward at the red stripe. It shot forward and what was obviously the upper body scratched Smeargle. He managed to throw Kecleon off and onto the floor, and used his big foot to keep him in place.

Smeargle then held onto his tail tighter, as the end started to glow red. He drew a circle on the invisible body, and as he did so, Kecleon’s whole body started to come back in colour. Kecleon now had a painted red target on his head.

“Now fire a hydro pump!” Helmsworth cried. Smeargle lifted his foot up and Kecleon ran from under it. He ran across the arena at Chris, but Smeargle’s tail end now glowed a beautiful aqua blue. Smeargle held it like a hose and blasted a surge of water forward, hitting Kecleon directly on his target and firing him back at Chris.

“Kecleon!” Chris cried. He picked his friend up. “Are you going to be Ok?”
“Leon” He said. He started to perk up slightly as the red target faded. Chris put him back on the floor and Marill ran over, keen to help her friend.

“So why did you want to show us Smeargle, professor?” Krystal asked, joining Chris and Helmsworth in the arena center. Helmsworth drew the orange and white Pokeball and recalled Smeargle.

“Well, it is simply because I wanted to show you that all the attacks you saw were thanks to Smeargle’s special attack – sketch”

“Sketch?” Chris asked. “What makes it so special?”
“It allows Smeargle to remember an attack that has been used on him so he can use it for his own use” Helmsworth said. “This Smeargle has 76 attacks”

“76?” Chris questioned. “Wow!”
“He seemed to be really strong,” Krystal said. “Has he battled a lot?”

“Oh my yes” Helmsworth said. “He is one of the strongest Pokemon I have ever examined. EVER. And that is the primary reason I was going to send him to Professor Oak to examine”

“Professor Oak?” Chris asked. “I thought he was an advertising gimmick?”
“Oh, this is the real Professor oak” Helmsworth said, chuckling. “But since you brought Electabuzz here last week, he ate all the electricity from the exchanger”

“He did?” Chris mumbled. “Sorry…”

“Why did you make it a pre-designed Pokeball?” Krystal asked curiously, staring at the orange ball.
“Well, I was having lunch on the afternoon it had been sent, and as I was eating a Satsuma I was partial to the colour orange at the time!” Helmsworth chuckled. “So I had a new ball designed for it”

“I see” Chris said. “So the machine won’t work?”
“No, it has been drained from electricity” Helmsworth said.

“Hey! We could travel to Kanto and give it to Professor Oak!” Krystal said.
“Come on” Chris said. “This isn’t the anime, we can’t go on errands like that”

“I think you could do with that,” Helmsworth said maturely. “For somebody who competed so well in the Miami League I would have expected much more battle strategies from you”

“Really?” Chris said emptily. “Maybe I could train in Kanto, we could deliver that Smeargle and we could…erm…train some more…I guess!” Chris said. He laughed slightly.

“I suppose we could” Krystal said. “What do you think, Chris?”
“I think that I battle just fine,” Chris snapped.

“I meant what do you think about travelling to Kanto” Krystal replied.
“Oh. Well, I suppose I might as well” Chris said. “I’d best check with Mom, though”

“Same here” Krystal said. “We’ll meet at the west Pontaricò dock tomorrow lunchtime, Ok? I’ve never been on the new ferry’s they built.”

“Sounds good” Chris said. “Come on, Kecleon. We’d best be getting home now”

“What about Cascoon?” Professor Helmsworth asked. “And Smeargle?”
“Oh…right” Chris said. He handed over the great ball to Professor Helmsworth and took the orange Pokeball off him.

“Have a nice time,” Chris said, as he walked out of the lab with Krystal. “I’ll meet you tomorrow lunchtime, right?”

“Right” Krystal said, as Chris and Krystal walked their separate ways.

That night, as Chris slept silently, small snowflakes started to float down from the tail of a large blue bird. He flapped off to the west of Pontaricò. From Dunwurray Island. Megan cradled the feather as if it were gold, and watched the mighty bird. She got out a phone.

“Yea, Sandra? He’s headed to Kanto” Megan snapped. “Probably Seafoam Village by the looks of things. No, I don’t have any purple lipstick. Ok. No, not any cherry, either. Just head off with Duncan to Kanto, Ok? Yes, I realise I can’t order you around. No, you can’t order me around. Just go, just go”

She put her phone away.
“Inconsiderate bimbo” She grunted.

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The Indigo Road Winds on...
-Wobbuffet cooks a suicide meal...
Wobbuffet turned round as he sprinkled chilli powder, and accidentally tipped the whole jar in. He quickly stirred it round a few times to make it look less obvious.

-Helmsworth starts to wonder about the recent snow...
“Hello Chris!” Professor Helmsworth said. “I looked up some data in an old Pokemon encyclopaedia and it seems that Articuno is behind all of this recent snow”

-And Chris gets in some proper battles...
“Twist!” Jeanette said. Bellsprout started to twist slightly to the left and the swift attacks missed! Chris stared, open-mouthed at this. Bellsprout then faced Kecleon, ready for another attack.

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also, find out how YOU can appear in the fic! The From Rookie To Champion Quiz kicks off on Thursday!