The Pewter Path to the Moon.
Chardoom flew over the forest, following glimpses of the racing vehicle headlights through the forest canopy. He had tried more than once to get to the van, but the foliage was too thick. A Fearow, awakened Chardoom's roars, flew up to do a Wing Attack. Chardoom barrel-rolled to avoid the attack. He plowed though the bird with a Quick Attack. The bird fell a few feet, but recovered and came after its opponent. Seeing no other way of escaping the battle. Chardoom pulled a pokeball from his bag; throwing it he watched the ball absorb the big bird. The ball 'dinged' as Chardoom caught the falling ball. Turning his attention back to the fleeing vehicle he easily made up the distance.
The van blew out of the exit of the forest like a bat out of hell. The engine screamed as the van hit a small hill and flew through the air. Bits of grass and dirt were thrown into the air as the rear tires tried to regain traction. Speeding off, the van just barely avoided a pillar of flame. The monster dove for the ground, turning at a 90-degree angle he raced along the ground after the van. The occupants lurched forward as Chardoom rammed into the back. The driver fought to maintain control as the monster rammed again. Looking through the review mirror he saw that Chardoom was coming up alongside, banking to the right, Chardoom rammed the van again. The van was tipped on to two tires. Chardoom, startled by how close he came to rolling the van, pulled off the attack.
The driver look out of his mirror and sighed a breath of relief and said, "It looks like he's gone, Sir." The young man barely finished his sentence when a clawed hand punched though the roof of the van. The driver slammed the pedal into the floor, no doubt leaving a dent. Chardoom's claws left three parallel gashes along the roof of the vehicle as it shot out from beneath him.
Chardoom was just barely able to avoid the sign that over hung the road, which announced that travelers were entering Pewter City. The van skidded on the gray cobblestones as it zoomed around a corner.
Flint stood outside his son's gym; he was the acting gym leader since Brock was on his journey. Sighing contently in the late spring air, he turned and locked the door. Then he heard a strange sound. There it was again, tires squealed and he grabbed a pokeball of off of his belt. It contained his Steelix. Not the one he used in gym battles, this pokemon was too powerful for the inexperienced trainers that came to his gym. He kept this Steelix for protection, and to help local law enforcement. Since all of the cops were in Viridian, against his wishes and advice, he and his pokemon were ran ragged.
"Looks like this will be a long night, my friend." He whispered to the pokemon in his hand. The silence of the night was interrupted again. The black van screamed around a corner, Flint rubbed his eyes when he saw the creature that pursued it. Steelix had barely materialized, creating its own style of roadblock, when the creature blew a Flamethrower knocking the Steelix out of the road and knocking it out. The stunned gym leader recalled his KO'ed pokemon, realizing that that was the first time that Steelix had fainted since his friend, Steven of Hoenn, gave it to him.
Convincing himself that he just witnessed someone training with their Charizard, Flint made his way to fulfill his duties in the Pokemon Center. "Ah, the indispensable, Flint." He said to himself. "Filling in for everybody that wants to wander off to neglect responsibilities." Conveniently forgetting how he forced Brock to take care of his brothers and sisters.
Blowing another Flamethrower, just to remind the occupants that he was still following, Chardoom followed the van out of Pewter. The route leading out of Pewter led into the foothills of Mount Moon. The van lurched wildly over the hill country. Noticing the generals green complexion the driver asked, "Are you okay, sir? We could pull over if you…" the man's voice faded out as he saw the officer's face. Underneath the green of carsickness, was the look of pure terror. After an uncomfortable gurgling burp, the general shook his head wildly. The driver's knuckles turned bone white as the van hopped over another hill.
Sliding to a stop, the passengers jumped out. At this point they had to carry Shido, he began to get so violent that they were forced to knock him out. They had to threaten his life for his pokemon to calm down. They walked single file after the grunts carrying their master, they were subdued but the lead grunt still had his knife at the young trainer's throat.
Chardoom landed behind a boulder and released his pokemon as the Rockets entered the cave. Just as he was about to leave his cover, the nanomachines kicked in. Squirtle breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed more comfortable around Mark as a human. Fearow, however, squawked loudly. Mark quickly grabbed the bird's beak, holding it shut. "I'm sorry to have startled you, Squirtle, can you explain, quietly, the situation to our new friend." Tearing from the humorous pantomiming that the turtle used with his limited vocabulary, Mark turned his focus on the entrance to Mount Moon.
Two guards, either drawn by the noise or posted by the general fearing that Chardoom may attack, were standing in front of the entrance of the cave. Mark sent Fearow into the sky, while he and Squirtle crept between the boulders. The rockets didn't want any unwanted attention when they built their base, so they left all of the natural debris along the path. As he approached he could hear the guards talking. "Man, I gotta take a piss." One said dancing a bit.
"Why don't you just go?" The other asked.
"Out here?" The first asked in alarm.
"Yeah, you got a whole mountain, pick a spot.
"You got this covered?" He gestured out to the darkness.
"Ya' mean watching a bunch of rocks? Ya' got it covered." The second guard said with a chuckle.
The guard walked from his post. Mark smiled in the darkness as the unfortunate guard came his way. Fearow, after a signal from Mark, took flight. The, um…preoccupied, guard failed to notice the bird fly off into the darkness. Mark waited for the guard to finish his business, then grabbed the guard from the back and quietly subdued him. Turning around he saw Squirtle, its hands on its sides, in an almost parental stance. "What?" Mark asked, nearly laughing at the little pokemon. Squirtle cocked an eyebrow, completing the look. "Oh, he's fine," Mark said waving his hand at the unconscious guard. "We agreed on no killing. If I can't even subdue them, I might as well go back to the professor and give you back."
Rolling its eyes Squirtle left the cover of the boulder and walked out into the road Mark followed. "Oy! Stop right there, I have orders, strait from the general. Nobody can enter this cave." The guard's hand went behind his back, supposedly grabbing a pokeball. "Hey, Mac, ya' out there?" The lone guard called out to his partner.
"Oh, he's out there," Mark said calmly, the guard looked at him strangely. "Lets just say we caught him with his pants down." He finished, stifling a smile. The man turned to run into the cave. Mark raised his fist into the air and brought his hand down, pointing at the retreating rocket. Fearow got the idea, and with an ear-piercing screech, dived onto the man. Advancing on the body, Mark checked for a pulse, finding a strong heartbeat. He nodded to Squirtle, who seemed less than excited about Mark's methods. But Fearow wasn't about to go into the dark tunnel.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark!" Mark exclaimed, almost laughing. Fearow glared at the human. The pokemon tried to pantomime its fear. First it put its wings over its head, hopping forward, it ducked lower and lower, finally it was almost laid flat along the ground, squawking it acted like it was trapped and couldn't get up. "I understand, Fearow, you are claustrophobic. It makes sense; flying types like to be up in the air, not underground." Thinking a moment, Fearow nodded rapidly.
"Whatever. Fearow, return." A red laser came out of the ball, hitting the hawk-like bird. Fearow was enveloped in a red aura, and then dissolved into red energy that flowed into the ball. "I'll never understand why an object the size of a baseball would be more agreeable than a cave. What is it like in there, anyway?" Mark asked Squirtle. Squirtle shook its head and pushed one finger across its lips. Marks brow furrowed as he tried to understand. "It's a secret? Why?" Squirtle repeated the gesture.
Rolling his eyes, Mark turned and entered the cave, with Squirtle close on his heels. Mark noticed that the entrance to the cave was a sloping tunnel. To his surprise the rocks seemed to be glowing! He started to creep slowly as voices drifted up the tunnel. The tunnel opened up into a huge cavern and two more guards were posted at the end of the tunnel. "Damn moon rock, gives me the creeps."
"You mean moon stone?" The other guard corrected.
"No, moon rock, the whole mountain is made of the stuff. It reflects the light of the moon. So, like this week, the moon is full, it glows like this. But during new moon we have to light the torches." Mark partly wished his timing were better; attacking during new moon seemed the better. He sent Squirtle ahead, and Squirtle reluctantly stepped out into the cavern.
"Hello, little one." Like all rockets, it was their job to give Giovanni any rare or unusual pokemon they came across, and Squirtle definitely counts. "When I capture you I'll nickname you, PROMOTION!" Squirtle looked up in alarm. Turning its back on the talkative guard it looked over its shoulder, pulled its eyelid down, stuck its tongue out and patted its backside. Mark had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Mark ordered Squirtle to get the guard's attention.
The guard, now enraged, ran up the slope of the tunnel. "Okay, Squirtle, Now about face and use water gun." The pokemon slid to a stop, catching the grunt off guard, and the rocket fell over as his feet were knocked out from beneath him. Mark took a breath as he heard a sharp crack as the man's head hit the rock floor.
The other guard, now in the entrance of the tunnel, was shining his flashlight up towards the intruder. "Hey, who are you?" The flashlight beam shone over the fallen guard and the trainer. "What are you doing?" The guard pulled his walkie-talkie out, but crumpled like a dry leaf as Mark's fist collided with his gut.
The radio crackled to life, "Alpha team, report!" There was a pause, "Beta team, I want a report, NOW!" The general's voice had a scared squeak to it. Mark grabbed the radio; he was about to say something back, then thought of something better. If these worked like the ones back home… he went over and picked up the other radio. Using the grunt's shoelaces, Mark tied the radios together, the speakers facing each other. Clenching his jaw, he tightened the laces around the 'talk' button on both sets, at the same time. A blood-curdling squelch erupted across the cavern. Mark ran out of the tunnel, as the noise of feedback became unbearable. As he ran, he saw several grunts holding their heads in agony as the noise reverberated around the cavern. Several unfortunate ones, who had their headsets on, were rolling on the floor. Halfway through the cavern Mark paused. The cave was filled with an eerie light. Everything seemed to be glowing, the walls, the ceiling, various stalactites and stalagmites. Although the floor was covered in dirt the glow still oozed through, and the lack of shadows reminded him of how much of that jerky he really did eat that day.
Fighting back the wave of motion sickness induced nausea; Mark made his way toward an obviously man-made structure. The huge rectangular building reached to the ceiling of the cave. It had a garage style door with a small door next to it, and windows at various places up the front. The grunts were recovering from the surprise audio attack. Mark hurried inside before they realized what exactly had happened.
He found himself in what seemed to be a large parking garage. Mark recognized the transport vans parked in neat rows. Hearing footsteps approaching, he dove for the shadow behind a support beam, offering silent thanks to whoever decided to use concrete to build the unnatural structure. "Yes, Sir, I'll spread the word. Switching to channel eight." The grunt walked by, fiddling with his radio. Mark waited for the grunt to pass and saw the staircase leading up into the fortress. Smiling to himself he made his move.