Pokemon Heroes: Sinnoh Saga [Book 1]

Chapter 23: Fuego Ironworks

"The foothills of Route 205 are filled with natural iron deposits. Floaroma Town makes good use of these deposits and has them refined by the Fuego Ironworks; even Oreburgh City uses Fuego Ironworks too. I never thought that a place like this existed; it would've been perfect for a day of training. I learned something that day—NEVER, and I mean NEVER, trust an Ambipom. They're crafty little things—and they're all devils I tell you! Anyway, enough of that, I don't want to spend too much time on the unimportant things, but I'll say one last thing about our travels to the Fuego Ironworks. The only thing that burned hotter than the flames that day, was the dedication we all showed while trying to get back our Pokédexes."

Sam ran down the path, the others close behind him. He could see the two Ambipom running down towards the river ahead, and Sam dashed as fast as he could to try and catch the two Pokémon.

Earlier today two Ambipom who had tried to steal their Pokédexes had woken the group up.

Sam managed to stop them from getting Jeremy's, and Niya kept hers safe, but his and Alyssandra's were now in the hands of the two, thieving monkey Pokémon.

"Come back here!" shouted Jeremy, still tugging his jacket on.

"Pika, Pika!" cried Pikachu.

The small mouse Pokémon had spent the past few days in its Poké Ball, having been tired out from the fray with Team Galactic at the Windworks. It was still a young Pikachu after all.

The group stopped at the river and watched as the two Ambipom ran across a narrow log, crossing the river, and headed towards a large, redbrick building with smoke rising from large smokestacks.

"Woah, hold up," said Sam, raising his hand as the group stopped by the river.

"Why are you stopping?" asked Alyssandra frantically, "We need to catch them!"

"The river's too wide to cross, and probably too deep. No point rushing across the log, it's too narrow for us and we'll just fall in," said Sam simply, looking down at the river, scanning it from left to right.

Alyssandra skidded to a halt but refused to give up there. "Go Cherubi!" she cried, tossing the Poké Ball up into the air.

The Pokémon shot out in a burst of red light and materialized beside its Trainer. "Use Magical Leaf, Cherubi! Get those Ambipom!" cried Alyssandra in a flurry.

Cherubi prepared its attack but stopped midway. Instead it glowed a bright white, and before Alyssandra could understand what was going on, it had evolved into a Cherrim. Alyssandra looked down in awe at her Pokémon. Shock covered her face; though she was proud and happy, she had not expected her Pokémon to evolve after her first command.

"Wow..." said Alyssandra slowly.

Her Cherrim looked up at her, though most of its face was hidden beneath deep purple leaves, and a curved green stem. The Pokémon looked like a purple bell with a mouth and legs sticking out from beneath.

The mouth smiled up at Alyssandra. "Cherrim!" it cried happily.

Remembering her pride for her Pokémon, Alyssandra picked it up and hugged it close to her. "I never expected you to evolve, Cherrim!" she said happily,

"Congratulations!" Niya watched the scene with disbelief, but soon regained her collected composure, "It seems all of the work you put into Cherrim over the past few days and during the contest paid off."

"The only thing I don't get," said Alyssandra as she held her Cherrim out to look at it, "Is why my Cherrim looks so different from the others I've seen? It has no pink flowers or red little berry-things on it."