Secret of the Pink Pokémon

Secret of the Pink Pokémon

ISBN:	0439169437
Published:	June 2000
Publisher:	Scholastic
Author:	Tracey West
Preceded By:	Journey to the Orange Islands
Succeeded By:	The Four-Star Challenge

Secret of the Pink Pokémon by Tracey West is the tenth book of the Pokémon Chapter Books. It is the second book to take place in the Orange Islands. It is based on the events of The Crystal Onix, In the Pink, and Snack Attack. It was published by Scholastic and is 87 pages in length.

Blurb

Pokémon Peril!

The Orange Islands are weird! Ash and the gang discover Pokémon they've never seen before. Onix is made of crystal. Rhyhorn has turned pink. Marill has a super sonar. And Snorlax is on a feeding frenzy!

There is one thing Ash can count on. Team Rocket is setting their usual traps to swipe rare Pokémon- and Pikachu of course. Can Ash stop them before Pikachu becomes Pink-achu?

Plot

The Crystal Onix

While riding on Lapras, Ash, Misty, and Tracey find a message in a bottle asking about the Crystal Onix. Tracey explains to Ash and Misty that the Crystal Onix is an Onix made entirely of clear crystal. Ash, wanting to see the Crystal Onix, tells Lapras to go to Sunburst Island to find the person who wrote the message in the bottle, who was named Marissa.

Marissa is eventually found at her brother's crystal shop. She is disappointed when she learns that Ash doesn't know anything about the Onix; she thought he could help her. She introduces the group to Mateo: her brother, and the reason she was seeking information about the Onix. Mateo explains he can't sell his crystal carvings because they don't compare to his grandfather's sculptures. Tracey comments there's nothing wrong with Mateo's carvings, but apparently his grandfather's carvings look like living Pokémon. This has been attributed to a sighting of the Crystal Onix when Mateo's grandfather was young. Ash decides to help Mateo find the Onix.

Tracey uses his Venonat to help find it. Venonat's impressive eyesight leads the group to a beach, where a formation of rocks gives the appearance of an Onix. Marill then traces the cry of an Onix, and the directs the group towards a small island. When the tide has gone out, everyone runs to get there: but there's a trap! Team Rocket had heard about the Crystal Onix, too. Ash and his friends make their way out of the trap, and soon discover more of Team Rocket's traps. These ones are already full: Team Rocket have caught themselves!

Leaving Team Rocket to fend for themselves, the group finally locate the Crystal Onix's lair. Tracey decides to sketch it; Ash wants to catch it; but Mateo sends out a Cloyster and says the Onix belongs to him. Its attacks are next to useless on the Onix's hard crystal exterior. Before Mateo can battle further, Team Rocket shows up. They are swiftly defeated by the Onix's powerful tail, and sent "blasting off again". Mateo then sends out his Charmeleon. After a short battle, he is about to throw a Poké Ball, but then changes his mind. Simply seeing the Crystal Onix is all the inspiration he needed. Returning to the mainland, Mateo carves Ash a gift: a crystal Pikachu, which looks exactly like the real thing.

In the Pink

After leaving Sunburst Island, Lapras finds itself in rough waters, and gets caught in a whirlpool. The whirlpool takes Ash, Misty, and Tracey to a beach, with them clueless on how they arrived. Tracey alludes that they may be on Pinkan Island, an island surrounded by whirlpools that makes travel there very difficult. The ascend a cliff to reach an open plain, and discover a Rhyhorn eating pink fruit on a tree. The fruit had turned Rhyhorn completely pink. Tracey attempts to get a closer look, carefully crawling behind bushes. Ash, indignant in Tracey's approach, runs across to Rhyhorn in a blasé fashion. Ash hides behind the same bushes as Tracey, but Rhyhorn spots them and starts chasing them towards the cliff. Suddenly Ash and his friends disappear and reappear near another tree, leaving Rhyhorn to hurtle itself off the cliff. Rhyhorn manages to save itself by landing on a tree branch.

Ash and the others are bemused on how they escaped, as none of their Pokémon have obvious teleporting abilities, although Misty suspects Togepi did it. Officer Jenny then appears, angry at the kids for being on the island, as it is a protected reserve. Misty points out the Rhyhorn in trouble, and using her jeep, Officer Jenny is able to rescue it by having Tracey and Ash climb down and attach ropes to it. Pikachu eats one of the pink fruit, and its tail turns pink. Officer Jenny explains that Pinkan Berries turn all the Pokémon on the island pink, making them rather sought after by poachers. Officer Jenny takes the kids to the Ranger Station, on their way passing numerous pink Pokémon.

Team Rocket also happen to be on the island, fascinated by the pink Pokémon, planning to steal them all to make a lot of money. Meanwhile, at the ranger station, Ash and the others observe the pink Pokémon when a horde of Nidoran approach the station, followed by Team Rocket, who appear to be running away from something. Officer Jenny herds the Nidoran, and an enraged Nidoking attacks Team Rocket. They send out Arbok, Lickitung, and Weezing to try and stop the Nidoking. They succeed, but Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on them. Unfortunately this makes Nidoking angrier, and it hurtles Team Rocket into the sky. Nidoking chases Officer Jenny's jeep, and Misty attempts to help by sending out Starmie. However, Psyduck appears instead. Tracey tries to use his Marill, but it is too late, as Nidoking sends a Hyper Beam at the jeep. However the jeep is teleported to a different location, confusing the Nidoking. Misty believes it was Togepi again, but Ash refuses to believe that Togepi is capable of that.

Snack Attack

Ash, Misty and Tracey head towards the Grapefruit Islands, a prospect that delights Ash. Upon arriving at the island, Ash attempts to eat a grapefruit, but is stopped by a woman, assuming they are thieves. The woman introduces herself as Ruby, and protects the grapefruit from being stolen by thieves. Ruby is contacted by two colleagues, who lead the group to a destroyed grove of trees. Ruby surmises that a Snorlax is the only cause of this, and heads to its location. Ruby's colleagues attempt to stop Snorlax, but they fail. Ash sends out Bulbasaur and commands it to use Vine Whip to harvest grapefruit. Misty sends out Staryu to assist. However, before they can get the grapefruit to Ruby, Snorlax appears, and starts to eat the grapefruit. Ash commands Bulbasaur to use Razor Leaf on Snorlax, but all this achieves is slicing the grapefruit into pieces. Snorlax then uses Body Slam on Bulbasaur, knocking it out. Ash and his friends follow Snorlax as it has finished all the fruit on the island. However Snorlax starts swimming to the next island. Ash sends out Lapras to pursue Snorlax to the next island.

When they arrive on the next island, they find Snorlax next to a pile of grapefruit, a pile that Team Rocket had stolen. Team Rocket, Ash, and Misty plan to stop Snorlax from finishing his feast. Ash sends out Squirtle to use Skull Bash, but it fails. Misty accidentally sends out Goldeen and quickly recalls it before Snorlax eats it. Jessie sends out her Lickitung, but Snorlax uses its tongue to wipe its mouth. Pikachu then attempts to use Thunderbolt, but this also fails. James attempts to hypnotize Snorlax, but ends up hypnotizing himself. After attempting to sing it a lullaby it, Snorlax hits Team Rocket, hurtling them into the sky. Misty suggests using Jigglypuff to put Snorlax to sleep, but has no idea where to find it. Ruby appears, and they decide to bait both Jigglypuff and Snorlax, which works, and Jigglypuff uses Sing. Snorlax falls asleep, and Ash manages to capture it.

Major events

Ash catches a Snorlax.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Snorlax (Ash's)
Marill (Tracey's)

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Trivia

The blurb for the book claimed that this would be the second of three Orange Islands-set novelizations. As it would turn out, five additional novelizations would be released after the initial three.

Errors

In other languages


Language		Title
Czech		Tajemství růžového Pokémona
Canadian French		Le Secret des Pokémon roses