"Woah there, not so fast kiddo."
I had just hopped off of Gyarados' back and onto the small, rocky beach outside of Cerulean Cave, surprised to see that somebody was waiting there at this hour. I sighed impatiently; we were already running a little behind schedule as I notice the sun quickly beginning to sink lower behind the hills ahead of us.
"Just who are you? Some kind of gatekeeper?"
"That's right. If you wanna enter this cave, you're gonna have to battle me first!"
I dug in my bag for a moment and pulled out my badge book, opening it so that he could see that I had all eight badges and an amulet from the Elite Four.
"Mister, we're in a bit of a hurry. I already beat the Elite Four! See?"
"Sorry, the police put me here to keep weaker trainers out. There are some pretty strong Pokémon past this point, I'd hate to see anybody get hurt, especially a little—"
"But I just showed you my badges, I'm not a weak trainer!" I protested, holding them closer to his face.
"Oh yeah? How do I know that you didn't borrow those?"
"My name's on here," I huffed, refraining rolling my eyes.
He tossed a Pokéball in the air and caught it again, smirking condescendingly.
"Come on, battle me!" he taunted.
Gyarados rose higher out of the water behind me, leering at the ace trainer in annoyance.
I cleared my throat and said, "As much as I would love to put you in your place right now, my Gyarados here is also itching to get inside this cave. She gets very scary if she doesn't get what she wants."
He looked up at her and grimaced slightly. Gyarados growled and slapped the water with her tail in response.
"Fine, go ahead," he muttered, reluctantly stepping aside.
I held out her Pokéball and she returned. I shouted a quick "thanks!" and ran into the cave behind the trainer.
"Be careful in there, girl!" he called after me.
After only taking a few steps inside, I could tell that the cave was more foreboding than every other cave I had explored previously. I was already straining my eyes to see what was in front of me. I withdrew Ampharos from her Pokéball and she lit up the cave before I even had time to ask, but even then her light did not reach more than a few meters away.
"It seems as though this cave is heavily protected," Ampharos murmured, stunned.
"I've never met a Pokemon that could make caves darker like that," I agreed, letting out all my other Pokémon.
Ninetails, Arbok, Gyarados and Togekiss looked around, though there was not much to see other than rocks and some pools of water.
"We're inside the cave," I began, addressing them, "but I have no idea where he is. You guys can see better than I can, so keep an eye out for anything suspicious that might lead us to him."
We kept close to Ampharos as we walked, nervous about what other surprises might be waiting for us ahead. I could hear some Pokemon scurry out of view when they sensed the light approaching.
Eventually, we came across a body of water; an underground lake.
"Gyarados—"
"Way ahead of you," she replied, already getting into the water.
"No, I was going to have Amphy—"
"Alright then Amphy, get up here, we need you up front," she barked back.
"Okay!"
"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get their attention.
Amphy was in the middle of clambering up Gyarados when they both looked back at me.
"You both need to wait for instructions. I'm the trainer!"
"We already knew—"
I shook my head, "I don't care! What if something happens because you weren't waiting for me to give a command? I know you're both smart and strong Pokémon, but with a situation as dangerous as this we need to have a chain of command. Okay?"
Ampharos enthusiastically shouted, "Okay!"
Gyarados was silent for a moment, then she turned around and said, "Okay."
"Ampharos, you can get on Gyarados. Arbok, you and I will follow behind. Togekiss . . ."
I looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. There were plenty of sharp rocks jutting down, but I trusted Togekiss to be able to dodge them.
"Fly close to the water in the back. Okay?"
Togekiss nodded.
Arbok slithered into the water behind Gyarados and flattened her head so I could climb onto her.
We were moving through the water for quite some time. We often crossed paths with Golbats, and I had to yell instructions to Ampharos from Arbok's back as she fought them off.
"Ampharos, any land in sight?" I called after she electrocuted yet another Golbat.
"Yes! Just up ahead!" she shouted back toward me.
"Let's head towards it, we'll regroup there!"
Once we got to shore, everybody got out of the water except for Gyarados.
"It looks like there's another path leading this way." I said, indicating the stones that seemed to outline a small path through the cave.
"Let'sssss follow it and sssssee where it goessss."
Suddenly I heard a little squeal to my right. I looked in that direction and saw half a Slowpoke's head protruding from behind a boulder. When he realized that I knew he was there, he was brave enough to come out a little further, but his wide eyes showed that he was completely afraid of us.
Hey, I thought suddenly, maybe he could take us to Mewtwo.
"Excuse me! Is there a powerful Pokemon hiding in this cave?" I asked, squatting to talk to him.
Slowpoke came out all the way. I felt my eyes widen in surprise when I saw that the three-foot long tail most Slowpoke usually had on their backsides was missing.
"What do you want with Mewtwo?"
I was startled by how direct he was.
"Well . . . I came to take him back with me before Team Rocket does. They know where he's hiding now, so I've been sent to take him away from here whether he wants to leave or not."
"Hmm . . ."
The Pokémon seemed to expect my team and I individually, as if deciding whether or not I was telling the truth.
"He will try to kill you, but . . . you seem like strong Pokémon," he said to my surprise.
"You won't go down easily."
"We're not afraid," I said, hearing Gyarados slap her tail against the cavern wall at those words, "we understand what we're in for."
The Slowpoke did not respond, but instead continued to inspect my team.
"Uhm . . . do you know where we can find him? This cave is pretty big, and—"
"I know where Mewtwo is, every Pokemon here does. I'll help lead you to him, but I sure won't face him with you!"
"I understand," I said kindly.
"If it helps Mewtwo, I sure will," said the Slowpoke in his humble voice. "He's not a bad Pokemon, y'know? Just scared is all . . ."
His eyes widened suddenly, "Oh don't tell him I said that!"
I couldn't help but smile.
He promptly turned around, and motioned us to follow with a nod of his head and a flick of his stump.