Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon since that belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak
It has been quite a while since I've written a chapter. The original version was finished close to the time I finished Chapter 7. But when I realised that the chapter wasn't even as half as good as I thought it would be, I scrapped it and started another one. I'm sorry that it took so long for me to finish this chapter but I love a good video game and Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros and Red Dead Redemption 2 take a lot of time to complete. Enjoy the chapter.
"Talking" = Speech
"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech
'Thinking' = Thoughts
'Telepathic speech' = Telepathy
It had been a week and a half or so between the Clefairy's dance and, more importantly to Yellow (who was starting to enjoy shipping them together), the kiss. Ash seemed to ignore it, saying that it was just Leaf being her playful, teasing self. Leaf, on the other hand, kept quiet on the subject altogether despite the fact that she was the one that had put the action into motion. They had gone through quite a lot of floors (seven down from the Clefairy and then around fourteen more going upwards from the ground floor.) It had been a fruitful few days, everyone saw things that they would have never thought they had seen before like the glimmering crystals deep underground and the clear streams and springs which the Water-types dwelled in.
But they hadn't just been enjoying their caving, using all the Pokémon and unique environment to train all of their Pokémon. The Pokémon that they battled in the cave were of a large variety: there were the Normal-type Pokémon that could be used for dealing with an unpredictable Pokèmon due to their large move pools; there were Water-type Pokémon which helped train their Pokémon with finding a way to defeat a Pokémon who is more suited to the territory (Water-type Pokémon fare better in water than a Grass-type or an Electric-type) or fighting various Rock-types so strategies could be used to find ways to take down a Pokémon with high defensive capabilities among other specific cases.
Pikachu had simply been grinding off of other Pokémon, learning ways to get around the type disadvantage. Ash quickly realised that whilst Pikachu was a good offensive choice, it only took a few powerful attacks to finish him off. Since there were two choices on how to go about defence (blocking or evading) Ash told Pikachu to become faster and react quicker to incoming attacks. One of the ways Ash had told Pikachu to train was when Ash would tell Pikachu to bounce off of rocks at quick speeds. This was because quickly jumping between two objects whilst maintaining optimal speed required quick reaction time to bounce off as soon as possible.
Ash also did a quick check of everyone's levels and was surprised to see that his Pokémon had made a lot of progress in the month (give or take) that they had been gone. Pikachu was now level 24 which meant that Pikachu was able to learn some more attacks. First, Ash asked Pikachu to start perfecting Thunder Wave since that would paralyse a Pokémon and help Pikachu avoid attacks as well as help Ash capture any wild Pokémon. Ash decided to skip Feint since it was only useful when the opponent was using Protect or Detect. Ash didn't skip Double Team though since Double Team would be especially useful to throw off any fatal attacks as well as allowing Pikachu to do multiple offensive attacks like Volt Tackle (whenever Ash thought Pikachu was ready to learn it.)
Instead of increasing Riolu's defence, Ash opted to go for more offence. Ash quickly checked the moves Riolu could currently learn (excluding his egg moves) which included Copycat and Screech. Though Screech was the only useful attack, the boy remembered Riolu's multiple egg moves and decided on which ones would be useful in their next few battles. Detect was an ideal move since it could make up for not focusing on Riolu's defence. Bullet Punch was also a useful one since it was another priority move, though it was one that was super effective against Rock-types which isn't the same for Quick Attack.
Riolu trained like Pikachu had with Iron Tail for Bullet Punch but was more focused on strengthening the muscle than breaking the rocks. The Fighting-type also used his emotion reading and Aura powers to try and detect incoming attacks and avoid them which would help him perfect Detect. For Screech, Ash just told Riolu to start screaming loudly for long periods of time whilst using his Detect training to avoid the aggravated Pokémon that wanted to take him down. Ash decided that Copycat could be a secondary objective since it relied on the opponent to be useful. Though there was something appealing with Copycat, it would be fun to see how a battle with only Copycat would go.
Ash did a quick scan of Bagon (who had just turned level 24) and discovered that the Pokémon was able to learn Headbutt and Focus Energy. Ash laughed a little as he realised something, some of Bagon's Pokédex entries state that it like go headbutt things a lot. If so, why does Bagon learn it at level 17 instead of, say, level one or something close to level one? But going back on topic, Bagon had soon become one of the hardest hitting pPokémon on Ash's team with the combination of a high base power attack, boosted critical hit chances and a strong offensive stat. Focus Energy was mastered soon enough since Bagon was already used to focusing all of his power and strength into certain parts of his body (such as his jaws for Bite.)
Ash's Pidgeotto didn't have a lot of space to do its usual flight training but Ash was able to give the Pokémon something else to do. Pidgeotto had just gotten to level 23, meaning that it now had the ability to naturally learn Twister. Ash and friends quickly realised that whilst on their little Pokémon training breaks, a group of Zubat would always appear. There were no exceptions which meant that Pidgeotto always had some experience fodder as well as some targets to use Twister on.
Leaf had a full team of Pokémon compared to Ash's four so she had to spend a lot more effort in ensuring that everyone was progressing. Bulbasaur was level 24 which was equal to. Leaf did a quick check of her starter and discovered that Bulbasaur was now able to use Take Down and Razor Leaf. Leaf smiled as she saw this since, up to Mount Moon, her main powerful Grass-type attack was a Vine Ram which was covered by Leech Seed and Sleep Powder. With Razor Leaf, he could throw some extra damage without having to damage his vines. Since Vine Ram was pretty straining due to the fact that the vines had to be wrapped tightly around each other, using Razor Leaf to let the vines heal would be a good idea. Along with that, Take Down was going to be a good attack since Bulbasaur's Vine Ram wasn't doing as much damage to Pokémon with a type resistance to Grass-type attacks. With Take Down, Bulbasaur could use Vine Ram to slam a Flying-type into the ground before using Take Down to finish them off. Leech Seed was another attack that could be used to set up for Take Down. Now that she thought about it, Bulbasaur was good Pokémon for setting up all sorts of attacks since they had Vine Ram to stop all of their momentum, Leech Seed which could be used to drain health, Sleep Powder which could be used to put them to sleep for further attacks and then the main damage dealing with a Vine Ram and Razor Leaf combo.
Leaf's Spearow was level 21 which meant that she could learn Aerial Ace and Mirror Move. These two attacks were quite useful since Aerial Ace was a stronger replacement to Quick Attack due to its higher base power and STAB. This also meant that Aerial Ace could be used along with Peck and Tri-Attack which should make the attack more powerful and allow it to stand up to Ash's Pidgeotto, who had been growing bulkier and sturdier as the training went on. Mirror Move was also going to be a lot of fun since it turned a Pokémon's attack against them. If her opponent tried to use Double-Edge or Hyper Beam or anything that was a remotely strong attack, she could use that attack against them and could incorporate it into one of her combos. Nidoran had jumped by leaps and bounds, now level 21 and showing signs that he was close to evolving. Nidoran learnt the moves Horn Attack and Fury Attack, both of which weren't hard to master. After all, the attack was more about the amount of force that is put in for Horn Attack and speed put in for Fury Attack.
This made it quite easy for Nidoran to continue using the track since it was a familiar motion with a few differences on what should be prioritised. However, what interested Leaf more were the darker patches of skin on Nidoran's back, a sign that the Poison-type was close to evolution. Aerodactyl had been one of Leaf's largest focuses during Mount Moon. Since the Pokémon had been from ancient times, there were quite a few things that needed to be explained. For example, the rest of the Pokémon had to explain Pokéballs (as they weren't there during ancient times); training which is assisted by a human and understanding orders.
Aerodactyl turned level 24 (after being the main focus of all the training ) which allowed it to learn Ancient Power (an attack which Leaf would like to focus on due to its stat raising ability.) Leaf had been focusing on manoeuvrability due to how somewhat clunky Aerodactyl was due to it not using its wings for an incredibly long amount of time. This training led to all the experience Aerodactyl had gained since the best way to test manoeuvrability was to battle the light, speedy Zubat.
Jigglypuff and Clefairy both trained together as a pair. Clefairy was high enough of a level to not need to grind on other wild Pokénon though Jigglypuff could have benefited from a boost in stats. In the end, both Pokémon were at level 23. Whilst Jigglypuff only learnt Round, the two were able to collaborate and learn some strategies that could be useful: a strategy where Clefairy would use Double Slap on Jigglypuff's Rollout to allow Jigglypuff to bounce back to Clefairy for a repeat of the first attack; a strategy where the opponent is put to sleep by Jigglypuff whilst Clefairy mixes Double Slap and Wake-up Slap (which has 140 base power per slap on a sleeping target) to wake up the Pokémon before it is put back to sleep by Jigglypuff's Sing.
Chuchu hadn't been training as much as the others but she often helped Pikachu with his training. The female Pikachu mirrored the same attacks as Ash's Pikachu though they often hit with less power due to Chuchu not battling as often as Ash's Pikachu. She did perfect her Debilitating Shock which was now able to be quickly fired and completely incapacitated a target with in seven seconds.
The group had been enjoying their time in Mount Moon as they started traversing back to the exit, it didn't take nearly as long to get back down since they weren't looking at every nook and cranny for hidden items. The group was in an awfully cheery mood, they were all a little excited to get back out of the mountain and back into the lush forests and bright cities.
"So... How does that make you an actor?" Ash asked Leaf with a raised eyebrow. He'd remembered when the two were both chasing Yellow's smoke cloud in Viridian Forest where she casually stated that she was an actor.
"I was on the set and moved a little. If you can call the people around the protagonist a background actor, I should be referred to as such... And anyway, I'm sure you loved 'the Musharna Paradox' as much as anyone else did. It got five out of five, what do you have against me being an actor in the movie," Leaf scratched her head a little as she recalled the experience, "I climbed through a window into a house guarded by strong, buff men; explored the area a little, damaging some property along the way; waltzed into a studio and, when the actors entered, I hid under the table before doing a small wave to the camera. I escaped before they could notice and, once they did, they played it off as one of the movie's mysteries. What's wrong with that?"
"Well, other than the fact you could be charged for breaking and entering and collateral damage, you weren't acting as a character. You're basically a background extra or an unnoticed cameo," Ash replied with a small smirk, "People only think of the main characters who stay on screen, you're a cameo with only three seconds of screen time. No one knows you."
Leaf replied with an equally smug smirk, "And yet the character and mystery that I created lives on in the threads that debate theories. Hell, I even have my own subthread. Just search online, 'the Musharna Paradox Dream Princess.' I don't know who coined that name but I love being known as the 'Dream Princess.' It makes me sound so regal and elegant, doesn't it?"
Ash seemed a little dumbfounded but hastily replied, "B-but that's about the character, not you!"
Leaf's smirk broke into a full-blown grin, "But I thought you said I wasn't an actor because I wasn't acting as a character... And you just said that I'm popular because of the character. So which is it, Ashy?"
Yellow formed a small smile on her lips due to Ash's sigh of defeat, teasing "So you aren't going to kiss like last time. I thought you two would be kind to your shipper. At least give me a small victory, C'mon..."
Ash blushed whilst Leaf quickly responded with, "No. No, we can't. And anyway, you tried that last time when we reached the peak of Mount Moon. You remember what happened, don't you? I thought it was pretty traumatising."
Yellow shuddered remembering the memory, the fear that accompanied the memory was shaking her and making her heart beat rapidly.
A couple of days earlier, the group had reached the peak of Mount Moon. It wasn't the actual peak of Mount Moon, as that was to the east of where they were, but it was the highest point that they could get to if they didn't want to get sidetracked and go in a completely different direction to the intended route.
Ash and Yellow were thankful that they had bought insulated over suits that were made to combat subzero temperatures. Leaf, on the other hand, was shaking a little and had to take a warm black winter coat to stop herself from shaking. Whilst the top of Mount Moon wasn't an ice-covered blizzard like the parts of Mount Coronet near Snowpoint City, they were still cold enough to cause Ash to call for the use of Sunny Day which took some of the bite out of the group let out all of their Pokémon to let them spread their legs (or wings in the Flying-types' case.)
The view from the peak was amazing and well worth the hours that they spent climbing up. They were able to see up to the entire Kanto Region and even glimpses of the Johto Region and Tohjo Falls. The group released their Pokémon out of their Pokéballs, allowing them to enjoy some of the clean air that they wouldn't have breathed in since they entered the cave. Afterwards, they all huddled around the South-western edge of the peak to see the rest of Kanto.
The sights of a nearby Cerulean City lighted Ash and Leaf's determination to get their second gym badge whilst the further away Saffron City and Celadon City caused Yellow to stare in awe at the huge skyscrapers and flashing lights. Ash and Leaf were holding hands, Ash seemingly oblivious whilst Leaf was aware but trying to act as if she wasn't. The two got closer as they were mesmerised by their view of Kanto; noticing how the region was a perfect blend of nature and cities with both seemingly mixing perfectly with each other.
Yellow watched Ash and Leaf with a little grin, "Hey, are you two going to kiss? You guys are so close together, c'mon. For your biggest shipper, be kind and... Leaf, why are you walking so menacingly?"
Without so much as a second of hesitation, Leaf marched over to Yellow and gave her a hard shove to the shoulder. Yellow's relatively weak and light frame caused her to stumble back a little... Right over the edge of the peak and above a good 200-meter drop. Leaf realised quickly that she'd thrown one of her friends straight to their death and did a quick grab to reach Yellow's arm. Too little, too late.
"Pidgeotto, Quick Attack to reach Yellow. Make sure you catch her whilst you're going downwards, she'll get injured pretty badly if she stops suddenly!" Ash said, before realising he'd wasted a good few seconds trying to construct that sentence, "Go!"
Pidgeotto didn't need any more explaining and blurred into a white beam as she began a nosedive to Yellow's side. Yellow was already about 40 metres down so Pidgeotto had to use her spinning Steel Wing strategy to make herself a little more aerodynamic and move a little faster. Yellow was 60 metres down by the time that Pidgeotto was able to make it to her, the bird going downwards at an angle like Ash had said. Once Yellow felt some feathers, she noticed that she was slowing down steadily. A loud chirp caused her to realise that she wasn't free-falling any more, giving her a few moments to think about how to respond to Leaf.
Sure, she knew she was being a little annoying but that wasn't enough to warrant being thrown to your death... If she said that it was Leaf's fault, the brunette would respond with a lot of annoyance so she decided to think of an evasive speech that would shift the blame on both of the three seconds of preparation in mind, Yellow opened her mouth only to have all of the words flee her brain. She stumbled off of Pidgeotto with an eerie silence and, without so much as glance at Leaf, walked slowly over to Ash and buried her head into his shoulder with a tight hug.
Yellow shuddered a little more before Ash decided to step in, "C'mon, Leaf. You threw poor Yellow over the edge of a mountain, of course, it's traumatising. I know you lack the normal amount of empathy but I thought you'd have enough to notice Yellow's sudden fear of heights."
That caused Yellow to blush a little, 'I didn't think it was that obvious.'
Leaf retreated a little as she noticed that Ash seemed genuinely angry, "Fine. I'll stop... And by the way, I have a clinical lack of Oxytocin. Expect me to throw you off of the next mountain we go to, Ashy."
Ash and Yellow flinched, not amused when Riolu and Leaf burst into laughter. Leaf put a hand out for a truce which let Ash relax a little more. He expected her to try something, a sucker punch of sorts, but, to his surprise, Leaf just shook his hand and gave him a playful wink. With the issue settled, the group walked towards the exit of the cave which should let them escape from the mountain and see the eastern half of Kanto.
They were only a few floors above the ground floor (six or seven if Leaf's hand-drawn map was to be believed) when Riolu started twitching before freezing still, appendages raising as if a strong wind was blowing them upwards. The group stopped in their tracks, Ash waiting for Riolu to respond so that he could find out what had his friend so... Focused? It was hard to tell when Riolu was snapping his head left and right, appendages flaring away from his head like some sort of whip.
The Pokémon stopped focussing on whatever had distracted him, putting a hand behind his head and scratching it with some sweat dripping down the fur, 'Do you mind if we stay away from the exit for another week or so?'
Ash raised an eyebrow before translating the message to the rest of the group. Leaf shook her head before making a laconic rant about why they should continue. Yellow agreed with Leaf, saying that they would be behind schedule if they didn't start moving. Ash agreed with the others before asking Riolu to explain further.
The Fighting-Type conceded and continued, 'Ash, you have to convince them. I sensed a lot of malevolent intentions downstairs. That is either a surprising coincidence or Mount Moon is being infiltrated by some kind of criminal group or evil organisation... or it could just be really annoyed miners. But disregarding that, if we assume that we actually do have criminals downstairs, we should realise that we are all trapped in. C'mon, convince them!'
Ash forwarded the message to the rest of the group. Leaf was unfazed, sure that it truly was just a group of angry miners, and tried to encourage everyone to start moving downwards and make it to the exit which Yellow agreed on, though rather hesitant at first. Ash decided to make another attempt to convince them to stay put but he failed.
"(Why are humans so stupid? I'm grateful Ash is the reasonable one here)" Riolu facepalmed before waving his hand in disappointment, 'If you want to go investigate, go on then. I'll use my Aura senses to keep us safe but, if we get caught and something bad happens, you cannot blame me.'
The trio continued on their way down, though they were making a beeline straight towards the exit to stay on the safe side. Floors six to two were easily passed, only requiring an hour or so to get through the four floors floors. Riolu kept his word and would frequently flash his eyes blue and spin around to see where everyone was.
The group stayed in a relative silence that would often appear during their caving adventure. As soon as they used the rope ladder to drop down to the second floor, Riolu started focusing deeply on all of the emotions that were surrounding them. His eyes flashed between the ephemeral blue of Aura and the fiery orange that they were naturally. Riolu pointed to the left and started heading in that direction, the others following quickly when Riolu told them that some of the people were around 40 away in the opposite one.
Their escape was uneventful disregarding the haughty laughter that they could hear through the stone walls. It was only when Riolu tired and was returned to his Pokéball when things started to go south. Without Riolu there to track where the enemy was, they had to rely on sight and sound to evade whoever the people below were. They moved slowly, in a triangle of sorts with Ash in front and other two behind to his side. He had suggested for Leaf to lead but the brunette pushed him into the role. They advanced forwards in a repetitive fashion with Ash leading in tight corridors and passages whilst Leaf would take action when they faced forks and corners.
As they moved forwards, Ash had noticed that the sounds that were spread throughout the tunnels had started getting louder. This put the group into a sense of unease with all of the noise building up. The noises rose to climax since, only a few seconds after the disturbing calls, they heard a squeal... Then a pained cry... A terrifying shriek... And deathly silence.
Ash and Leaf stood still, Leaf having understood what happened and trying not to show it whilst Ash was guessing quite accurately. Whilst the Pallet Town Trainers had frozen, Yellow started twitching erratically. The female Electric-type, who had been perched at the top of Yellow's hard hat, used a light ThunderShock in order to bring back some level of conscious thinking. The blonde stopped twitching, becoming deathly still and muttering, "T-they couldn't... T-they didn't... T-they murdered an innocent Pokémon..."
After the dying shrieks, everyone became a little more hesitant about continuing. Ash tried to wake Riolu back up, even resorting to using some of the chesto berries and awakenings that they were carrying. The Fighting-type would fall asleep seconds after he woke up which caused the rest of them to give up. Although, they all did realise that if the Fighting-type did wake up, Riolu would have just given them an 'I told you so.'
As a replacement for Riolu's aura senses, they used their Pokémon's heightened senses. Pikachu, Chuchu and Nidoran had the greatest hearing out of the Pokémon that they were carrying with them so they were surrounding the group with both Pikachu at the front and Nidoran at the back. Leaf's Bulbasaur and Ash's Bagon went to either the front or back of the group so that they were defended if anyone did come through. Jigglypuff and Clefairy accompanied either of the two so that they could use a sleep-inducing move like Sing to help things along. Pidgeotto, Spearow and Aerodactyl stayed in their Pokéballs for the time being since there wasn't enough space for them in the narrow tunnels.
The group of humans and Pokémon all walked down the tunnels, referring to the maps that Leaf had drawn. They were quickly aware of how many people had entered the cave. The only problem was that they were completely unaware of the intentions that the people had since, without Riolu's Aura senses to differentiate between the good and bad. They made some progress through the floor though it was at a snail's pace compared to before.
"Hey Leaf," Ash whispered almost inaudibly, "I think I saw someone down the previous corridor to the right."
Leaf gave a small nod of acknowledgement before waving at the Pokémon around them, "That's the problem when we're not using Riolu. Senses can be lied to and they aren't always specific but it's the best we have. And anyway, it's not like we're in immediate danger because of that, they would have attacked us if they meant us any harm"
Leaf's words made him feel a little safer but they weren't enough to stop the odd feeling he felt in his chest. The kind of feeling you would get when you knew that something bad was going to happen. Ash was usually about to predict these things, some saying that he had a strong prescience for bad events and misfortune. He stayed in deep thought to keep himself from sulking.
After he was out of this cave, he would be in the eastern side of Kanto, a place which he hadn't seen before. He knew that they were going to face the Cerulean City Gym Leader before going south and facing Vermillion City's Gym. Cerulean should be a cakewalk since Pikachu was an Electric-type Pokémon with Electric-type moves so STAB plus the type effectiveness should win him the badge. And, if Pikachu were to faint and be unable to battle, he could always call Bagon out since Dragon-types were resistant to Water-type attacks.
Vermillion was going to require some more thinking. Since it was an Electric-type Gym, he didn't have any straight strategy. He knew that Bagon would be starting the battle off since its Dragon-type was resistant to the Electric-type attacks that were used by the Gym Leader. The Pokémon that he knew Lieutenant Surge (who he believed was the current Gym Leader) used the Magnemite and Pikachu evolutionary family and he had heard some say that the man also used Electabuzz and a Jolteon but those were most likely for higher level trainers.
"Stop! Don't move!" the boy heard a voice call out from behind them.
'I knew it' Ash thought internally as the odd feeling disappeared, they should have listened to Riolu. Ash turned around to look behind him, he was curious as to why Bagon, Nidoran and Clefairy hadn't already attacked.
That was why he was a little surprised to see that they already had. Only Bagon was left standing with the others collapsed on the floor in a tired heap from the foe's attacks. Whilst Ash had been in deep thought, a Team Rocket Grunt (which he assumed was one of the people that Riolu had sensed earlier) with a Venasaur had taken out half of their team. Ash looked to his side and saw that Leaf was battling the Venasaur whilst Yellow was crouched over some of the Pokémon that had fainted and was popping berry after berry into their mouths with short touches to their foreheads to use her Psychic powers to help them along.
The raven-haired trainer quickly looked at which Pokémon were left. Bagon and Pikachu were conscious, though Ash didn't think they would be for very long, whilst Riolu and Pidgeotto were in his Pokéball. Making a quick plan, Ash pulled one of his torches and shone the light into the attacker's eyes.
"Pikachu, Thunder Wave on Venasaur to paralyse him! Bagon, Flaming Dragon Pulse and keep it going! I choose you, Riolu!" Ash called out his orders before shaking Riolu awake, "Riolu, use Screech to lower defence, then use Bullet Punch to get close and hit 'em with Blaze Kick!"
Pikachu sent a weak current into Venasaur's body, similar to how Chuchu would when incapacitating her opponent. Unlike Chuchu's attack, Pikachu would only paralyse her enemy instead of causing them to lose consciousness. The attack worked since several short sparks flew across the Grass-type's skin. Bagon used Focus Energy (even if Ash hadn't told him to) before he started attacking as well with the Fire Fang / Dragon Pulse combo.
Riolu woke up sluggishly, lethargically yawning before noticing the attacker and registering the orders. The Fighting-type's eyes blazed with energy before rubbing his palms together and releasing a high-pitched scream. The Screech caused Venasaur to acquire a dark purple tinge which signalled for Riolu to close in. With a metal fist, the Pokémon swung a right hook before throwing various aflame kicks. Whilst the paralysis made it seem as though they had a fighting chance, Venasaur used Razor Leaf and Petal Dance to damage their onslaught of attacks.
Pikachu fainted instantly, his low-defence body stopped him from being able to endure the attack (causing Ash to rethink his defensive strategy with Pikachu) which lead to an instant knock out. Bagon was the next to be knocked down: Venasaur started releasing large seeds which exploded as soon as they came near the Dragon-type. With only a tenth of his health left, Bagon tried to use Fire Fang on Venasaur but the high-level Grass-type was able to slam him into a wall with Vine Whip before finishing him off with Petal Dance. Leaf had her own Bulbasaur (her last fighting Pokémon) knocked out as Venasaur released Sludge Bomb on Bulbasaur, critically damaging its pre-evolved form, before finishing it off with a Toxic and Razor Leaf combo.
With Leaf out of the battle, it was just Riolu and Pidgeotto that would face Venasaur, "Riolu, Screech to lower its defence again then Agility and Bullet Punch!" Ash called out.
With only Riolu left, Ash felt that the battle was hopeless. Even with the defence nerfs, Riolu wasn't going to be able to finish Venasaur offend he doubted Pidgeotto could do much better. In any case, Venasaur would win no matter what he did. Riolu slid back a bit so he could release the deafening noise from his mouth. Riolu kept the noise going until the bluish purple tinge deepened on the herbal dinosaur. Riolu burst into Agility, blurring into a fuzzy image before slamming a metallic first into Venasaur's side
"Poison Powder then Solar Beam, Venasaur!" the grunt called out.
"Dodge with Agility and Blaze Kick to the main plant. Let's see if we can disrupt the Solar Beam!" Ash responded, whilst he knew that Riolu didn't have a fighting chance, it didn't mean that he would give up so easily.
Venasaur grunted a little before purple spores started erupting from the large flower that sat on its back. Riolu used Agility and backpedalled a little so that the powder would dissipate and spread out before he headed in to rush the Grass-type. The blue and black Fighting-type sprinted towards the Grass-type and did a hop to axe kick Venasaur's flower.
"Use Blaze Kick, slam your feet into the centre of the flower. We should be able to keep Solar Beam from forming. Prepare yourself to use Detect in case they use another attack!" Ash called out, trying to formulate some sort of plan in order to win this battle. Could he try to use Copycat? He hadn't trained Riolu a lot on the move but he knew that Riolu performed it successfully once. The Fighting-type stood up on Venasaur's flower before seemingly sprinting on a point on the flower with aflame legs. Riolu was definitely putting a lot more force than he would when sprinting since Venasaur was wincing constantly. He was hitting so hard that Ash could have sworn that the Emanation Pokémon had punctured one of the petals.
"Venasaur, Razor Leaf and Vine Whip to surround him!" the grunt called out, a confident smirk on his face as though he had already won this battle.
Ash was confused as to why the grunt was so confident. Detect should allow Riolu to dodge every attack that came towards him... Except when there was no room to dodge. Ash had, in an inextricable amount of stupidity, forgotten that he was battling in a tunnel with a 's eyes became a light blue, Detect being under effect. In a split second, Riolu sensed the location of each attack around him and predicted where they were headed. He was completely surrounded on the sides, the incoming vines and blade-like leaves encircled him.
Riolu knew that there was a roof only ten centimetres above him. Deciding to risk it, Riolu jumped and spun in the air with Quick Attack, narrowly avoiding each attack that had been sent at him.
"Riolu, Endure!" Ash called out, eyes widening as he noticed that Riolu was definitely going to slam into the solid stone ceiling above them. Riolu had carefully calculated how much power to put into the jump. But, no matter how hard he thought about it, he was either going to avoid every attack or slam into the roof. With the impact only seconds away, Riolu flashed red before crashing into the stone with a sickening thud and falling through the air with a large purplish area around his nose and forehead.
"Venasaur, Razor Leaf to weaker and Solar Beam to finish them off!" the grunt ordered with a bemused smile.
"Get up, Riolu. Detect and retaliate with Copycat!" Ash responded, desperately trying to find some sort of way to win this battle. If he told Riolu to rush Venasaur with physical moves, he was sure to be struck down. The fact that Riolu didn't have ranged attacks (except the weak impromptu Water Pulse which Venasaur would be resistant to) made it so that he didn't have any other viable options.
The large leaves surrounding the plant on Venasaur's back released the blade-like leaves again, the main plant starting to glow as it absorbed any of the light in the air (at least, that's what Ash assumed given the fact that there was practically zero sunlight in the cave tunnels.) The energy manifested itself as an orb of yellow energy before becoming a metre-wide beam which singed the walls and left the charred stone in its wake.
Ash pressed himself against the wall to keep himself from being burnt to a crisp whilst Riolu pushed himself up (albeit somewhat slowly) before flashing his eyes blue again to predict where the Solar Beam would hit. With the prescient power, he sidestepped before somersaulting forwards, rolling beneath the beam of light unharmed. The Fighting-type focused on the attack that happened prior and starting glowing a dark green, similar to the shade that grass had.
"Vine Whip, whilst he's charging the Solar Beam!" the grunt shouted.
Ash sighed in defeat as he realised what had just happened. In another act of stupidity, he had told Riolu to use Solar Beam which would require a few seconds of concentration before being released. During those seconds, Riolu was completely defenceless. As the large vine slammed into the side of Riolu's head, knocking him out cold, Ash recalled all of his Pokémon and clipped their Pokéballs onto his trainer belt.
Ash played with the idea of using Pidgeotto to end the battle but he knew the area was too small for Pidgeotto to fight properly. The problem was that the roof was less than three metres above the ground so Pidgeotto would have little room to dodge any attacks. If another wave of Razor Leaf came at them, they'd have to take them all. With all of his Pokémon safe in their Pokéballs, Ash raised his hands in the air and gestured for the others to do likewise. With no Pokémon left and with zero weapons or tools to save them, Ash had no choice but to surrender.
"You all fought pretty well. In fact, if I hadn't stolen this Pokémon from such a powerful trainer, I might have lost. But, you all fought against me so I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you all captive... That is, of course, if you don't want to join Team Rocket. After all, if you can't beat them, join them. So, will you join us?" the Grunt said to an empty silence, "Well, I did try. Venasaur, Sleep Powder!"
At that moment, Ash tried to grab for the mask that he had taken off quite long ago. As soon as he reached into the pocket that it was stuffed into, he was already on the ground out cold.
After a pleasant, dream-like stupor Ash woke from a sharp pain on his left cheek. The boy grunted both from the pain and from the sudden awakening but he quickly recovered and surveyed his surroundings. It seemed like one of the other cave rooms that they would train in but it was much smaller, probably only a 5-metre by 4-metre box with two exits on the walls to their left and right.
Ash tried to get up before noticing a large, thick rope to wrap his ankles and cold, steel handcuffs on his wrist. He quickly remembered the pain that had woken him up and looked to his immediate left and right. The twelve-year-old relaxed a little when he noticed that Leaf was to the left of him with Yellow on Leaf's left. It seemed to him that Leaf had dug her nails into his cheeks to wake him up.
"Are you alright, Ashy? I hope the little pinch didn't hurt you whilst I was trying to escape with our lives!" Leaf scolded before pointing at the floor to his right, "Now, can you pick up that razor? I'm going to free my ankles so I can get the handcuff key I keep in my shoes and I need that razor to do so. Just pass it over to me."
Ash blinked twice before shuffling a little across the floor and moving his arm above the blade, lightly fingering it so that he could get a light grip on the smooth metal. He spun around and placed the flat side of the blade in Leaf's hand.
Ash decided to speak up, feeling that he was still dreaming, "Erm, Leaf... Why do you just carry a blade with you? And how do you know how to escape? Why are you so prepared?"
"Wait, let me focus on cutting the rope and not accidentally slitting my wrists, alright... And anyway, this isn't my first time in handcuffs-" Leaf froze before a light blush appeared on her face. This really made Ash sceptical of whether he was dreaming or not, Leaf may have been enjoying and using her freedom of speech a little too much (something which Ash and Yellow had to negotiate with Leaf on) but she was definitely not a criminal, "Er... What for? You didn't..."
Ash couldn't really finish the sentence. She didn't what? He doubted that she committed some sort of serious crime like murder or anything in that league. Would it be assault? Leaf could be a little aggressive when provoked like when Yellow started teasing them on the mountain (though even Ash could admit that it was rather annoying even if he would rather be the calm, non-aggressive person in the group.)
"Didn't what? I didn't do anything that crazy, I'd be behind bars if I did. So, if you dared to even think that I would murder or maim someone then you know me too well," she said with a quasi-psychotic grin which broke into a laugh, "No, it was way less serious than that. It's only a year or two of jail time if I was an adult, it wasn't too bad."
Ash did a nervous chuckle when Leaf did the psycho grin, was assuming assault wrong of him, "I didn't think you would do anything that serious... So, what did you do?"
"It was only theft," Leaf said with a shrug, not a lot of guilt on her face other than the sheepish scratching of her head, "Remember how we were meant to stay at Sinnoh for a year or so before moving back to Pallet Town? We got caught right in the middle of one of Sinnoh's worst economic depression in its history. It's why it took so long for us to get back, we needed to make sure that we could afford a house when we came back along with being able to get food and other things. I was pretty light on my feet so I pickpocketed money from other people. Actual breaking and entering came in a lot later but that's a completely different story"
Ash was taken aback by Leaf's confession, "But, didn't your mum find out about it?"
Leaf blushed a little as she finally took the handcuff key out of her shoe, "Of course she found out! The woman should have been a clairvoyant, it would have gotten us back in Kanto a long time ago but she doubts pseudoscience and refuses to be part of it. But, yeah, she found out. She didn't like it at first, making me put all of the money into a charity if we couldn't give the money back... But, when you have no other sources of income, you have to accept any and all ways possible. I became talented in that field of crime."
"B-but you were still caught," the raven-haired trainer stuttered out after a brief pause.
That caused Leaf to laugh as she gave Ash the key so that he could take his handcuffs off, "I had a partner in crime, it was a Ditto. I'd use him as a disguise so that I could sneak in relatively easily plus they worked as great lockpicks once you taught them how. I got caught because I didn't know that Ditto had aquaphobia. With Ditto wrapped around my body, I tried to grab a coin bag that had fallen into a half-full bathtub causing him to shriek and reveal our presence."
It took Ash a few tries to both get over the fact that the key had been sitting in Leaf's shoe for about two weeks and that he had to use his teeth to unlock the handcuffs, "And... What did they do when they found you?"
"Well, they slapped some metal handcuffs on me since I had the appearance of a grown man. After I revealed that I was just a young girl, they had to take the handcuffs off by force since they dropped the key somewhere. After they heard my foolproof excuse, I was given a slap on the risk and escorted home. The face my mum wore when she opened the door was absolutely brilliant," Leaf smiled before stealthily checking if anyone would see her take back her bag and belongings, "I'm going to get my stuff and wake up Yellow. Hurry up so that we can get out of here!"
"But the key was in your shoe..." Ash sighed, unable to get over the lack of hygiene, "Can you do it?"
She huffed before unlocking the handcuffs for him and gave him the razor to free his feet. He twisted his wrist to check if it had gone numb during the time it had been numb. He sawed off the rope, finding it surprisingly hard to cut through the sturdy rope.
Once he had finally cut through the rope, Leaf had found where the Grunt had scattered all of their Pokéball and left them all in the centre of the room. He stretched before rising from the wall and looked through the pile of Pokéballs for his Pokémon.
Ash found Pikachu's Pokéball and let him, hoping that Pikachu hadn't got cranky after being left in the Pokéball for so long. He didn't find his Pidgeotto's Pokéball so he had to join Leaf in her search for all of their items.
He was able to find Pidgeotto's Pokéball after a few minutes of searching, a bit after Leaf had found everything that she needed and started freeing Yellow. Ash looked for the empty Pokéballs and Great balls that he had. It was during that look that Ash, looking through every nook and cranny, found a taser with a few 15-meter bolts.
Ash was about to put it back where he had found it but Leaf quickly snatched the taser out of his hands and slid the bolt out of his hands. The boy was about to disagree but he trusted Leaf, even if some would think that trust was misplaced, so he decided against it. After all, having some kind of non-lethal defence brought peace of mind.
With an awake though disgruntled, drowsy Yellow and Pokmon that were relatively healthy, the trio woke Riolu up so that he could check where the Grunt was. Ash shook Riolu awake, getting the Fighting-type to search for the aura of the Rocket Grunt. With Riolu and his knowledge that no one was within a solid 30m radius, they snuck through one of the tunnels with Riolu leading the group as their main source of evasion.
The time they were escaping through the tunnels was one of the very few times where the entire trio had a unanimous feeling: that of dread. There was a strong tension in the air as everyone had some sort of feeling that they were going to be found.
Riolu stopped them all at a right turn causing Leaf to check through her map. They were only a few turns away from the large chasm where the Cerulean City exit was. Ash asked Leaf if she could give the map to Riolu so that he could check if the Grunts were on their path.
Riolu looked at Leaf's map before pointing at one of the edges of the paper, just great. Riolu pointed at the large chasm that contained the exit. Ash sighed and shook his head since he'd already asked if there were any grunts near the Pewter City exit.
They were going to have to take the cards that they had been dealt, biting the bullet and trying to sneak past the criminals. The trio was pale and sweating bullets, they knew that the chasm was empty and barren. There were a few natural stone pillars that they could quickly hide behind if they were truly going to attempt it.
Maybe they could play it safely, breaking each light that illuminated the area so that they could sneak straight through the darkness? Maybe they could get Bulbasaur to use Sleep Powder to take down every single member? Chuchu's shortcircuit tactic could be used to incapacitate the members of Team Rocket whilst also using Pikachu's Thunder Wave.
Ash started looking at the situation strategically asking Riolu if he could point out where each grunt was. With a rough idea of where each target was, Ash was able to form a plan.
He knew that Sleep Powder did have a large radius, and, with Gust, he could focus it to take them down. During that confusion, Ash could use a widespread Thunder Wave discharge to ensure that they were all safe. Chuchu's more targeted incapacitating shocks mixed with her agility and speed may allow her to knock most of them down.
Ash checked the map and tried to delegate roles to each person in order to be as effective as possible. He knew that he had to make sure that they wouldn't take too long or they could be caught before were found and taken care of.
Ash looked around the corner and made sure that they could discuss their plan of action secretly, "Alright, can we start the escape with Bulbasaur's Sleep Powder? We can pull up our masks so that we can run through the cloud. With that, we can fan it towards them so that they all crowd at the front. Then we can have Riolu use Screech, that should be some good crowd control for the rest of our Pokémon to take them down."
"Chuchu can use her Debilitating Shock to take down the ones at the front. It takes a lot of precision to do it so we'll only be able to take down around three or four of them before we're noticed. I'm sure Pikachu could aid Chuchu so we should do some damage." Yellow piped in. Three was still something when there were 30 or so Rockets crowded in that one chasm.
That brings to question, what were they all doing in there? Was there a meeting or were they planning something? Maybe they were already escaping and it would be better for Ash, Leaf and Yellow to simply wait and see rather than go on the offensive.
Ash brought the idea up and was immediately shut down by Leaf. The brunette quickly and rationally reasoned that if they were going to be leaving, why were they still there? Riolu knew that the top floors were rather barren, telling them that they most likely weren't waiting for anyone.
The other idea, which Ash completely forgot about, the second group of Rocket Grunts surrounding the Pewter City exit. If they were all planning to leave, shouldn't they all go through the same exit? Even if the Grunts were going to different bases, they would at least split apart at different intervals so that it wasn't blatantly obvious that about 50 to 60 odd members of a criminal syndicate were escaping, practically begging to be captured.
Ash continued his plan, "After the Sleep Powder goes up, Chuchu can start using Debilitating Shock whilst Pikachu does a widespread Thunder Wave, maybe in the form of a Discharge? That should take quite a few out considering that those that aren't asleep are paralysed to one spot. Once we're done, I think we'll need to trap them in one spot. I know that using a Flaming Dragon Pulse will dent the ground and set it aflame. Any other suggestions?"
Leaf rose her hand, "I'm sure that Bulbasaur's Vine Ram can go dig underground. With that, I can surround the grunts before raising the ground so that we get a completely clean getaway."
With their plan ready to be put into motion, Ash asked Leaf to make sure that she had her taser out, the boy knew that there was going to be at least at one person that was out of reach of the Pokémon and would thus need to be taken down by the taser unless they were going to try and take them down unarmed, a completely idiotic move considering the fact that the grunts were going to be less than hesitant on attacking a child.
Ash raised five fingers, getting everyone to prepare themselves for what could be a very tough situation. As each finger fell down, all relaxation halted so that they could all focus.
Leaf wondered why Ash was so easy to rely on. Sure, he made the plans and was usually the greatest at thinking on his feet but there was some sort of aura around him that made him trustworthy. Maybe it was linked to the actual aura surrounding him, he mentioned that when they were reunited a few months ago.
Ash's final finger went down before Ash gestured for Bulbasaur to start. With their masks up, a cloud of blue dust rose erupted before Bulbasaur's slender vines started fanning them.
Holding their breath, the group excluding Riolu ran through the cloud, keeping their mouths closed whilst Riolu let out his sharp screech. With the noise going off, Ash ran as far as he could, waiting for the cloud to pass so that he could safely call for Pikachu to use Thunder Wave...
And they heard the zap of a taser and the bang of a gun discharge.
Ash's eyes widened as the cloud finally dispersed. Leaf had a flowing wound on her leg and a larger exit wound. Ash looked around only to see that the Rocket Grunts were all prepared, guns out and pointing at each of them.
Ash sighed, raising his hands and asking his friends to do the same like last time. They hadn't accounted for the Rocket Grunts having masks of their own... Something that would be essential for them considering they often used fumes and gas attacks like Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Smog etc.
He could tell Leaf was going to fight back but he gave her pleading look which caused her to bite her tongue and surrender as they'd already been caught once, they'd be treated much harsher this time. They needed some sort of miracle. In fact, that legendary Arceus had talked about a long time ago would be quite the lifesaver right around now. What were they doing, goofing off under a truck?
That last bit was a great transition, am I right? But anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long. This was meant to be done before October and yet here we are in February.
I was going to take another month or so but then I realised something that made me feel a little bad. It had already been 6 months since the last main chapter so I needed to make sure that I posted something ASAP. After all, it doesn't seem like there are many other Furthershipping authors out there. This is probably ridden with errors and, mistakes so I hope that you all review and tell me about any other mistakes.
I might be taking a break from this story for a bit since the rush burnt me out and writing and rewriting this story burnt me out. I'm going to dabble into another story briefly to see if its well received or not. If all goes well, me might be able to get back to this story within a month.
Planned date of next chapter: 5/03/2099
Until then my peeps...
