As we hiked through the rocky landscape of the final part of Route 3, we saw a familiar red and white building ahead of us, signifying a rest stop, as well as the entrance to Mount Moon, but we all know the former is the more important one.
"Air. Conditioning." I gasp, as I drop to the floor, and exaggerate a crawling motion towards the Pokémon Centre.
"Come on, you big idiot. Let's go." Matthias heaved as he grabbed my arm and dragged me up. After a few more minutes of walking, we made it to the Pokémon Centre.
"LIFE." I hissed, as the cool air from the Pokémon Centre hit me in the face. It was a hot day today, and trekking through a Route wasn't the most fun way to spend it. We made our way to the counter, where Nurse Joy was smiling cheerfully, and took the Pokéballs off of our belt, plopping them onto the tray to get them healed. Nurse Joy quickly slotted out Pokéballs into the healing machine, and turned back to us, the same smile plastered on her face.
"Now, do you need anything else?" She asked.
"Ah, yes. May we please have a map of Mount Moon?" Exton requested politely. Nurse Joy's smile drooped for a split second, before she answered.
"I'm sorry, but the cave has been blocked off. However, you're welcome to join the trainers in the cafeteria for a free lunch." She informed us.
"Alright. Thank you." Exton said, before we headed to the cafeteria. As we picked up our lunch and found our seats, we started a hushed conversation about what to do next.
"So, how do we get to Cerulean City now?" I asked, confused about how we would be able to continue our journey.
"Well, we just have to beat those Team Rocket members." Exton answered. Matthias and I shared a confused glance.
"What... are you talking about?" I asked him.
"Isn't it obvious?" Exton rolled his eyes. "Nurse Joy wouldn't even give us a reason that we wouldn't be able to cross the mountain, and the League in past instances has allowed another form of travel because of sanctioned excavation or remodelling, so it wouldn't make sense for them in this instance not to. Also, you can see out of that window, in the small pool of water, the reflection of two Rocket uniforms." Exton listed, then pointed out of the window to out left with his fork. To our amazement, he was actually correct.
"Um, okay." I said, flustered. "But how are we going to go against a whole organisation on our own? We're beginners with one badge, as well as being kids."
"Why don't we ask the trainers around here if they would want to help us?" Matthias proposed.
"That... actually isn't a bad idea." Exton blinked in shock, before he shook his head. "Let's start with the group over there." All three of us got up, and moved to another table, with four people.
"May we sit here?" Matthias said nicely. The only girl at the table looked up at him and blushed, while me and Exton giggled at him.
"Sure." A boy said. We three set our trays down, and sat down. The girl who blushed had a light tan, with dark brown hair, and hazel eyes, with her hair let down. She wore a pink, white, and black striped T-shirt, with some blue jeans. One boy had really short blond hair, and was really pale, with blue eyes. He was wearing a horrific Alolan white T-Shirt with blue pineapples on it, and brown cargo shorts. Another boy was extremely short, with a dark tan and short cropped black hair. He wore a T-Shirt with an Absol design on it, and some camp shorts. The final boy was the tallest of the group. He had hair reminiscent of some pop idols on TV, like TBS.
"Hi. I'm Alvin, and this is Exton and Matthias." I introduced ourselves, gesturing towards Exton and Matthias respectively.
"Nice ta meet'cha." The girl said. "I'm Germaine, this is Thomas, Dylan, and Ethan." She gestured towards horrific shirt boy first, then short boy, and then tall boy.
"Are you four also trying to get through Mount Moon?" Matthias asked.
"Yes. Trying to get to Cerulean for a badge." Dylan said simply.
"Alright. Did you know that some Team Rocket members are blocking the entrance?" Exton snuck into the conversation.
"Really? We didn't know that." Thomas said, before looking at each of his companions to confirm that they didn't either.
"Yeah. We need to get through Mount Moon too, so we were wondering if you would want to join us to get through Team Rocket." I said.
"Why do you need us, though?" Thomas frowned.
"We just think that we could do with some more help." Matthias said.
"Yeah, I think we're going to have to-" Thomas started to decline, before being interrupted by a blushing Germaine.
"Yeah, sure." She said, sneaking a glance at Matthias. I tried to hold in my laughs.
"What Pokémon do you guys have?" I asked them.
"I have a Murkrow and Houndour. Germaine has an Oddish and Ivysaur, Thomas has a Dratini and-" Dylan listed, not really caring what was going on.
"Woah, he has a Dratini? How did he get that?" Exton asked in shock.
"A Pokémon Adoption Centre-" Thomas said proudly.
"Don't interrupt me again. And Ethan has a disobedient Riolu." Dylan finished.
"Dassa lot of rare Pokémon!" Matthias whistled.
"Yeah. yeah, whatever." Dylan waved the question away
"I think we might have to split into teams." Matthias said, a bit frantically, seeing Germaine moving a bit closer to him. "How about Exton, I and Ethan go together?"
I looked at him, with a devious look in my eye. "Nah. I see you and Germaine are getting a bit close, so how about you two, Exton, and Thomas go together, and Ethan, Dylan and I will go together?"
Exton smirked as well. "Yeah, that sounds greaaat to me! Come on." He said, standing up and dragging the three by their wrists out.
"I guess it's us left." I commented, before dragging the two up and out, as Exton did.
"NOOOO! MY FOOOOD!" Ethan cried, stretching out a hand towards the food, until it was no longer in sight.
We approached the entrance, seeing that the guards were already knocked out by Matthias and company. I grinned, stepping over their unconscious bodies, motioning for them to do the same. Ethan carefully stepped over one, while Dylan not-so-carefully trod on the guard, proceeding to kick him once, then proceeding forward.
"Well, that was unnecessary." I frowned at Dylan, and he only shrugged.
"He's scum." He said, stepping into the cave. Me and Ethan hesitantly followed suit. Once we got into the cave, we saw two ladders, one with faint footsteps, and one with relatively new ones.
"This way." I said, walking towards, the one with old tracks, them following behind me.
