Today we find our hero trekking across a rocky trail toward Pewter City.

But, the weather isn't looking too good for our friends!

Andy walked with a purpose, kicking up dust behind him as he followed the

trail up through the mountains. Buneary reluctantly followed, hopping

alongside Andy and hiding its face under its pulled-up belly cotton fluff.

"Buneary! Eeeeeary."

"Don't worry so much, Bounce," Andy chuckled as he surveyed the stark grey landscape and even starker grey clouds. "Everything is fine, though it's probably not a good sign that we haven't seen even a single geodude yet. We've been walking all night, and it's past dawn now. At least, I think it is."

Andy looked all around him trying to find a slightly lighter spot in the sky that would give away the position of the sun, but it was nowhere to be seen. A low rumble rolled across the horizon. "That doesn't sound promising."

"Buneary!" Buneary tugged frantically at Andy's pant leg back toward the way they came. "Neary! Buneaaaary."

"We can't go back now, Bounce," Andy sighed and stopped to stretch a bit. He set his pack down and yawned, stretching the stiffness from his arms, chest, and back. "Mmmm, we've already come this far. If we go back now, we'll never leave home again. Mom would probably lock me in my room for the rest of my life."

Thunder rumbled through the mountains again. Andy closed his eyes and smiled at the sky as a light drizzle of rain began to fall. Buneary covered its face with cotton fluff again complaining miserably. "Buneeeeeary."

"Oh come on," Andy chuckled and picked up Buneary to comfort him. He cradled the little rabbit in his arms. "It's just a little rain. We should find some shelter, though. There should be a bunch of caves around here because of all the onix."

# # #

Onix, the great stone snake of the mountains, slept soundly beneath the

shadow of the shortest one. He was young, so he never noticed the slight

pressure drop in the air that normally came just before the rain. All onix knew was that it was nice and cool today, which was a very nice change of pace.

He liked this particular spot, too. The rocks were softer and tasted more

salty, and the few humans that passed by here rarely noticed his presence.

There was one now, talking to a buneary. Poor little buneary is scared of

the mountains.

Onix sighed a long slow sigh. It was such a nice day for a nap. Goodbye

human. Goodbye Buneary. Onix will probably never see you again.

Suddenly, there was a sound like a distant roar, then the rain! It was wet! It hurt! It hurt so much! The wet soaked into onix' stones and got into the cracks and crevices. It poured through sensitive joints, making the stones and pebbles creak. Every joint ached like a sandshrew crawling between every boulder of its body!

Onix roared and raised up high. "Gooooooh!" It hurt so much! It was like

having your soul washed away through your stones!

Something up ahead was moving. They must have done it! I didn't think

buneary knew rain dance! Why did they have to ruin such a nice day? I should ask.

# # #

Andy cradled the shivering Buneary in his arms. The rain was pouring heavier every minute. He sighed and mutterd to himself. "Great. Now onix and geodude are definitely not going to come out. Water hurts them. They were probably already hiding a long time ago to get ready for the rain."

Andy pulled his cap tight on his head. "We're going to be soaked through if we don't find shelter soon."

Andy pulled out Buneary's pokeball. "I'm going to put you in your pokeball, ok Bounce? I don't want you to get sick from getting w-."

"Goooooooh!" A thunderous and gravely roar echoed over the mountains. Andy turned to see a row of boulders he had just walked past rise up from the ground. The front boulder had a spike or a fin on the head. Rocks and mud cascaded from all around it. It's snakelike eyes locked onto Andy as it roared.

"It's an onix!" Andy clutched tight to Buneary and sprinted down the trail away from it. Onix groaned and charged toward them.

"Blaaaaaar!" Onix quickly caught up and dove to tackle. Andy leapt to the

side and rolled down a muddy slope, holding buneary tight. Luckily, Onix

missed as Andy dodged the attack, but an avalanche of rock and mud followed after him down the steep hill. If it had connected, its head alone would have been enough to crush Andy to mush.

Andy rolled to his feet at the bottom of the hill and ducked down low with Buneary wrapped in his jacket. Onix reared up and roared again, searching for them through the heavy sheets of pouring rain. It looked like it was in pain.

"Bounce," Andy shouted to the buneary in his arms. He stepped further away from the hill of falling rocks. "I need your help, buddy!"

"Buneary!" the pokemon protested and nuzzled tight against Andy's chest.

"Look, I need you to trust me, ok?" Andy knelt down on one knee and set

Buneary down in front of him in the rain. "Onix is weak from the rain,

already, and its extra weak against your ice beam attack."

"Neeeeary." Buneary's voice wavered as it shivered, already soaked from the heavy rain.

"You can do it, Bounce," Andy reassured him and stood up. He looked up the hill. Onix found them and roared before charging down the hill.

"Here it comes," Andy shouted. Buneary's ears coiled against its head as it stared up at the charging mountain of rocks. "Get ready!"

"Blaaarr!" Onix soared down the mountain, quickly gaining speed and

momentum.

"Now, Bounce!" Andy shouted and dodged to the side. "Jump up high and use

your ice beam!"

Buneary cried out and leapt high into the air just in time. Onix rushed past underneath Buneary. Buneary opened its mouth wide and a white-blue beam of frozen energy poured out and struck Onix just past its head. In an instant, Onix was covered in a sheet of frozen rain as its momentum carried it forward toward a wall of rock. Trapped in that layer of ice, Onix was unable to stop itself from crashing headlong into the cliff face.

Andy ran forward and caught Buneary before ducking down and protecting it

with his jacket again before they were caught in a shower of rock and Ice.

"Good job, buddy," Andy whispered to Buneary. "I'm really proud of you."

"Buneary!" Buneary smiled and nuzzled against Andy's chest.

As soon as the deadly shower ended, leaving only the rain to pelt them, Andy stood and grasped an empty pokeball. Onix was out cold, lying in a heap of ice coated boulders in a small crater. Andy grinned and tossed the red and white ball at Onix. It hit and opened up wide. Onix was then engulfed by red light spewing from the pokeball, then the ball shut and Onix and the red light was gone.

The ball fell to the ground and shuddered. A red LED in the ball button

glowed as it shook. Onix was trying to escape the tiny ball. Even in an

unconscious state, it had a strong force of will.

"Come on," Andy whispered through his teeth. It seemed like an eternity

before the red light faded and an electric gong sounded. Andy laughed and

hugged Buneary tight. "Yeah! We did it, Bounce! We caught Onix!"

Buneary wiggled happily in Andy's arms and hugged him back. "Buneary!"

"Thanks Bounce," Andy said, placing him back on the ground. "You did good."

Andy stepped over to the muddy pokeball and pulled out a black marker from his pocket. He picked up the ball and marked "ONYX" on the top. "Onix needs to get to a pokemon center. It's pretty beat up."

"Buneary?"

"Oh, right." Andy often forgot Buneary didn't know much about the human

world outside the farm where it was caught. "A pokemon center is like a

hospital for pokemon. They take care of you, fix your wounds, feed you, and let you sleep there. They're a big help after a tough battle, so I've

heard."

"Buneary?" Buneary tilted its head looking confused still.

"I went with Dad once before we found you sneaking around the farm."

"Buneary!" The brown rabbit crossed its arms looking indignant.

Andy chuckled and picked up the brown rabbit again. "You'll see what it's

like when we get to Pewter City. We had to bring a Mareep there once when it was really sick."

Andy shivered, reminding himself that if they didn't find shelter from the rain soon, they'd get sick too. The rain was still pouring in heavy sheets, and it wasn't showing any sign of letting up. "Come on, Bounce. Let's find somewhere to get dry."

Andy and Buneary quickly found a small cave nearby and took shelter inside. Andy poked and prodded some of the boulders inside to make sure there weren't any camouflaged Geodude sheltering there as well. Oddly enough, there were no pokemon inside.

Andy pulled some dry clothes wrapped in plastic garbage bags from his pack and began to undress. Buneary shook the water from its fluffy fur as Andy hung up his clothes to dry. "I'd sell my soul to have a fire type pokemon right now."

"Eeary." Buneary shivered and glanced around the small dark cave.

"I know it's dark," Andy sighed pulling on a dry shirt. "And it's cold, but there's no dry wood in here, and I'm pretty certain there isn't any outside, either. I can't make a fire with wet wood. At least, not without a strong fire type pokemon."

Andy sat down and rummaged through his pack. Buneary cuddled up against him. Andy smiled and handed Buneary an opened baggy with brown and red pokemon rabbit chow he made at home. "Sorry it's cold."

"Buneary!" Buneary smiled and dove into the little baggy of treats.

"Don't eat too fast," Andy chuckled. "I'll try to catch a fire type pokemon as soon as possible, alright? For now, we'll just have to make do until the rain stops."

Andy snacked on some granola bars and thought about Mom and Dad. They were probably freaking out already and sending out a search party to find him. They wouldn't find him this far from the path, though. Not with the rain being so thick and no fire to give away his position.

Tomorrow, when the rain hopefully stopped, they'd be able to make it to

Pewter City before noon. It wasn't too much further, but it would be stupid to try to make it in this weather. Not to mention, they'd been walking for eight hours already before Onix attacked. Andy was exhausted, and Buneary too.

Andy yawned and rolled out his sleeping mat. Buneary curled up next to him on the thin foam mat and nestled up against his chest. Buneary was asleep almost immediately.

"Good night," Andy whispered and kissed Buneary's ear. "Sweet dreams, my

little Bounce."

# # #

"Chuuuu! Pikachu!"

Andy sat up with a jolt. Buneary rolled away, complaining.

"What's going on?" Andy squinted in the sunlight clearing the haze of sleep from his eyes. He yawned and stretched. "Did you hear something?"

"Buneary." Buneary yawned and stretched its ears.

"Ekanssss." Something outside whispered.

"Pika!" The sound of a lightning strike echoed through the small cave. Andy leapt to his feet and shouldered his pack.

"Someone's in trouble!" Andy shouted. "Let's go, Bounce!"

"Buneary!" Buneary bounded behind Andy into the sunlight. Off to the side of the cave, a Pikachu was running from what looked like a purple snake with a yellow stripe just below the head. On Pikachu's back was a tiny rodent with similar coloring, but it had diamond shaped ears and a much smaller body.

"Pikachu must be protecting that Pichu from Ekans," Andy said. "Pikachu

doesn't look too good, either. It's pretty beat up."

Pikachu sprinted through a small canyon and found itself trapped at a dead end. It turned and growled at the snake as Andy ran to catch up.

"Chuuuu!" A bolt of electricity lanced from Pikachu's cheeks and struck the purple snake. Ekans seemed almost unaffected and lunged to bite Pichu.

"No!" Andy shouted. Pikachu dodged to the side, knocking Pichu away. Ekans latched on to Pikachu's neck, but Pikachu twisted out and slapped Ekans away with its tail.

"Bounce, use your bounce attack on Ekans! Quickly!"

Buneary jumped up high into the air. Ekans readied another attack, but

before it had a chance to move, Buneary landed on top of it hard. The stone ground around the impact cracked with the force of the attack. Buneary rolled away leaving Ekans dazed and broken in a little crater. Buneary placed itself between Ekans and Pikachu.

Andy ran over to them and knelt down. Exhausted and hurt, Pikachu collapsed. Pichu crawled up to it and prodded with its nose and paws. "Pichu? Pichu pichuuuuu!" It cried.

Andy leaned in to get a better look, and it wasn't looking good. "It looks like Pikachu's been bitten. A lot. I think Pikachu's been poisoned pretty bad."

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu squeaked and looked up at Andy. It's breathing was

shallow and it was shivering. "Chaaaa!"

Buneary looked concerned and pulled on Andy's pants leg. It pointed at Pichu and then at Andy. "Buneary! Buneary eeeary!"

"What?" Andy asked as he searched through his pack for an antidote. He'd

grabbed some potions, but he forgot to pack any antidote. He looked back at Pikachu. "You want me to take Pichu?"

Pikachu nodded. "Pika. Chuuu Pikachu."

"I'm not leaving without you too," Andy said. "I've got to get you to a

pokemon center, Pikachu."

"Pika!" Pikachu tried to stand on all fours. Sparks rippled around its body and its legs shook with the effort, but it didn't stay standing for long.

"Chuuu." It laid down and winced. "Pika. Pikachu."

Buneary hopped over to Pichu and raised up one of its paws. Beneath its arm was a snake bite similar to the ones all over Pikachu. "Buneary!"

"Oh no," Andy groaned. "You too?"

"Pi. ka." Pikachu sounded weaker by the second. Andy had to act fast. He

clenched his fists realizing there was nothing he could do for Pikachu. Even at a dead sprint, he'd never make it to Pewter City in time to save Pikachu, but Pichu still had a chance. He'd have to run the whole way. If only he'd remembered the antidote!

"Pikaaaa," Pikachu squeaked one last time before falling limp.

"Buneary!" Buneary tugged at Andy's jacket and pointed toward the trail.

"I know," Andy said. He placed a hand on Pikachu's head and choked back

tears. "I'll take care of your baby. I'll protect Pichu, I promise."

Andy picked up Pichu and cradled it in both arms. He took one last look at Pikachu before running back up the hill to the trail.

"Pichu! Pichuuuuu!" Pichu cried and tried to wiggle out of Andy's grip, but Andy held tight until Pichu calmed down. Buneary hopped along side Andy as he sprinted down the trail toward Pewter City.

"Bounce!" Andy shouted. "I need you to run ahead and get help! Hurry!"

"Buneary!" Buneary bounded down the trail at full speed, disappearing behind scattered boulders and cliffs in seconds. Pewter City was still far away, but if Andy didn't stop, he'd be able to make it in time to help Pichu. Pichu cried into Andy's jacket, holding tight.

"Don't worry Pichu. We'll make it," Andy huffed between sobs. He picked up speed as the trail began to descend. "I promise."