Chapter 12: Mountain of Distrust

Spearow are heard cawing as the sun rises over the hills of Pewter City.

"Oh man, what a good night's sleep." Kuji says as he yawns.

"You can say that again." Seijou replies with a stretch.

"Oh man, what a good ni- ouch." Kuji begins to say before Seijou punches him for his stupidity.

"Good morning everyone." Coal says as he stands up and takes in a healthy helping of morning air.

Tengan slowly opens up his sleeping bag and stands to his feet as well.

"How was your sleep Tengan?" Seijou asks.

"Very restful, I think today will be a good day." Tengan says as Coal stands in front of the others.

"So you guys ready for breakfast?" Coal asks enthusiastically.

"You betcha." Kuji says jumping to his feet.

"Good, since you're so excited you can help me gather some firewood."

Kuji's smile quickly turns to a frown as the others laugh.

"Well if you're ready Kuji we should get…" Coal begins to say when he sees a figure in the distance walking towards them.

The others take notice and stare in the same direction. The figure comes into focus as Ryo walks closer to the group with his arms filled with firewood.

"Hey Ryo!" Seijou yells as he and Kuji run over to help their new friend.

"Man, you're a savior." Kuji says relieved.

"Wow…umm ok." Coal stumbles not knowing what to say.

"You ok Coal?" Tengan asks.

"Yea, I guess I kinda forgot he's part of the group now."

"Well it was a little sudden, but he's a good guy. He helped me when I was really downtrodden and my confidence is back now."

"That's good, glad you're feeling better bro." Coal says as Ryo, Seijou and Kuji approach the two with firewood in their arms.

"Thanks Ryo, you didn't have to."

"Naw it's nothing. I'm new to the group, so I figured I'd pull my weight." Ryo says as he walks pass Coal and Tengan and throws the wood in an open area of the campground.

Kuji and Seijou follow suit and drop the wood in the same area.

"Alright since the firewood has been gathered, I'm going to cook my patented breakfast of pokemon champions." Coal says as he slides his hands together anxiously.

"Umm well if you don't mind Coal, I have been meaning to try out this new recipe I picked up." Ryo begins to say. "I figure this would be a good time to try it."

Coal remains silent as his left eyebrow begins to twitch a little from frustration.

"Yea Coal, let Ryo cook this morning." Seijou says.

"You cook for us each morning." Tengan adds. "Take a break this time."

Coal takes a deep breath calming himself down.

"Fine, go ahead and cook Ryo. I'll be back." Coal states as he walks away from the others.

"Where you going Coal?" Kuji asks. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Coal doesn't answer as he walks into the distance leaving the others confused. A few minutes pass as Coal is seen sitting at the top of a hill looking over a meadow. His Trapinch is also with him lying down next to its master.

"Man Trapinch, I don't know." Coal begins to say. "One second it's the four of us, and it was fine. But then all of a sudden this guy just shows up and the others treat him like he's been with us the entire way."

"Trapinch?" Trapinch says trying to understand its master.

"I mean, he wasn't there when we caught our first pokemon, had our fist battles or our first Gym battle."

"Trap…"

"He hasn't been with us long enough to receive that respect. We all earned each other's trust and respect, and he just gets in like that?" Coal states snapping his finger.

"Maybe that's why he's doing all of this now. To gain our trust." a voice says startling Coal and Trapinch who turn around to see Tengan standing there with a small package.

"Tengan?! How'd you find me?" Coal asks.

"Ehh I just wandered and figured you'd be looking over a serene area like this." Tengan explains pointing out the meadow.

Tengan takes a seat next to Coal and Trapinch as he hands the package to his friend.

"Here, it's some leftover food from breakfast. You should eat." Tengan says as he pets Trapinch who grins.

"I'm not hungry." Coal states placing the package on the ground next to him.

"Well, you don't have to eat it now." Tengan exclaims as he looks at his friend who is staring into space. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

"Well you're a horrible liar. It's about Ryo right?" Tengan asks with Coal giving no response. "He's being overly nice and helpful so he can gain our trust, you do know that?"

"I guess…but why is it so easy?" Coal asks. "We've been traveling for weeks now and we have been through a lot. I mean we still don't even fully trust you yet."

"Oh thanks, thanks a lot." Tengan says sarcastically.

"I mean after you left the group so abruptly…I don't know…" Coal begins to say but stops after thinking twice.

"Look, I understand how you and the others may not trust me after what happened but you did accept me back in. And I think that's because you all truly believe I've changed and want to make us better." Tengan explains. "And I know the kind of person you are Coal, you are a great judge of character."

Coal turns to his friend a little confused.

"After our battle with Brock you saw my lack of faith in my pokemon when the others didn't. And you put the team ahead of any individual that may hinder the group's growth."

"Trap trap trap." Trapinch calls seemingly agreeing with Tengan.

"And when I came back you saw a change in me. Also, if I do recall you are the one that suggested Ryo travel with us."

Coal smirks after realizing he did.

"So you must see something in him too."

Coal remains silent looking out at the meadow when Tengan stands to his feet.

"Well, I'm heading back. Remember, you don't have to have that food now but it will be there when you are ready to accept it." Tengan says as he walks back to the group leaving Coal with his pokemon.

"Trap?" Trapinch calls waiting for a response.

Coal sighs as he takes the package of food and opens it. He grabs a piece of bread that Ryo made and takes a bite. After a few chews Coal's eyes widen before shutting.

"Damn him this is good."

A few minutes later…

"Alright so when are we heading to the next gym?" Seijou asks anxiously.

"Yea I've been itching for a battle." Kuji adds.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu calls out happily.

"Well the next gym is in Cereulean City. But we have to pass through…" Ryo begins to say but stops when he sees Tengan approaching them.

Seijou and Kuji look out to see their friend also.

"Hey Tengan any luck finding Coal?" Kuji asks.

"Yea I found him, but he needs a minute." Tengan responds when someone puts a hand on his shoulder causing him to turn around.

"Coal! You're back." Seijou exclaims.

"Yea sorry bout that guys. I just needed to clear my head." Coal says as he and Tengan slap hands before the two walk to the others. "So what's going on?"

"Oh well we were figuring out our next destination." Ryo replies.

"Yea, we're going to Cereulean City." Seijou says.

"Oh ok, and how do we get there?" Tengan asks.

"Through some place called Mt. Moon. But I don't know where that is." Ryo states.

"Mt. Moon? That doesn't sound too bad." Kuji says.

"Oh, you mean that Mt. Moon?" Coal says pointing upwards pass the others.

Kuji, Ryo and Seijou turn around and look up to see a large mountain with caverns all around the sides.

"Piiikaaa…." Pikachu calls afraid.

"Are you sure that's where we have to go?" Seijou asks nervously.

"Yup, I know this area and that is definitely Mt. Moon." Coal answers confidently.

"But…that seems like such a long walk." Kuji exclaims downtrodden.

"Well suck it up, we won't get to Cereulean City by standing here." Tengan says as he starts to pack his things for the hike.

"Tengan's right, let's go." Ryo adds causing Coal to sigh.

The group packs their things and hikes up the mountain. After about twenty minutes the five trainers reach the mouth of the mountain. They all stare into the darkness inside, none taking a step towards it.

"Alright, shall we get moving?" Tengan asks.

"Piiikkaa…" Pikachu calls still afraid.

"Don't be such a baby Pikachu." Kuji says.

"Pika!" Pikachu calls before giving off a spark to its master's leg.

"Ouch ok ok, I'm afraid too." Kuji admits.

"We have our pokemon to protect us, so there's no reason for us to be afraid." Coal says as he, Tengan and Ryo walk into the cave.

Kuji and Seijou look at each other before they run in after them with Pikachu not far behind. When the three enter, Tengan, Ryo and Coal are standing there looking around. The mountain is a dark, dank place with stalagmites and stalactites scattered throughout the floors and ceiling. Even though it is dark, the reflection coming off of the minerals that surrounds the walls of the cave give enough light.

"Wow…this is beautiful." Seijou says astounded.

"Yea it is." Ryo adds just as astounded.

"So how do we navigate this place?" Tengan asks.

"We just follow the road." Coal answers pointing towards the floor.

The gang looks down to see what looks to be a man-made path of white stone.

"This leads straight through the mountain. If we stick to it we'll be out of here in no time." Coal continues.

"Ok so let's get moving!" Kuji shouts as he and Pikachu run past the others before he is grabbed by his collar which stops him in his tracks.

"Are you crazy?!" Coal exclaims letting his friend go. "You can't just go running into a cave full of wild pokemon screaming at the top of your lungs."

"Oh…" Kuji says thinking about it for a second.

"Forget about it, let's just go." Coal says as everyone walks pass Kuji and his Pikachu.

Kuji and Pikachu sigh and the two follow suit. The team follows Coal who is leading them through the cave for a few minutes when Seijou and Kuji begin to argue.

"Dude, you are nuts." Seijou says shaking his head.

"Come on man, I'll prove it to you." Kuji responds.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"I'll find and capture a Clefairy here and have it lead us to it."

"What stupidity can you guys be talking about?" Tengan asks overhearing the conversation.

"Kuji thinks he'll find a Clefairy and capture it." Seijou begins to explain.

"Which is highly unlikely." Ryo interjects.

"Oh but that's not the crazy part, he thinks-."

"I KNOW that once I capture a Clefairy I'll have it lead us to a giant mound of moonstone that all of the Clefairy plan to use as a spaceship to fly off into space. Cause we all know that's where they are originally from." Kuji explains interrupting Seijou.

Tengan and Ryo turn to Kuji with their eyes wide open, shocked by what came out of their friend's mouth.

"That…that may be the single dumbest thing I've ever heard." Tengan says as he turns forward still shell shocked.

"Yea bro, you're more likely to be attacked by a wandering Onix then find a Clefairy anyways." Ryo says when his unsuspecting self runs into Coal who has completely stopped. "Whoa, Coal why did you stop?"

Ryo sees Coal frozen in place looking up when he suddenly does the same. As his head moves up, his eyes widen with fear as they all lay their eyes on a sleeping wild Onix.

"You just had to say something." Kuji retorts.

"Shhh, everyone stay perfectly still." Coal interrupts. "It's still sleeping, if we just move slowly without making any loud noises we should be able to pass it with no problem."

The five trainers and Pikachu begin to walk precariously by the giant rock snake. Taking their time, the group is ready to clear it when Seijou inadvertently kicks a stone. The stone skips along the cave floor as the group all hold their breaths. The stone finally stops when it hits a wall. The gang looks at the stone and then quickly towards the sleeping Onix which wasn't affected by the noise.

"Phew, that was close." Tengan says relieved. "Good job klutz."

"Sorry but that was unavoidable. We ARE in a cave." Seijou responds.

"Let's just continue befo-." Coal begins to say when he hears a cracking sound.

The sound becomes louder as the rest of the gang look to see the wall the rock hit begin to form a crack that travels upwards. The crack scurries up the wall until it hits the ceiling of the cave where a stalactite hovers over the rock snake. The crack circles the base of it before it finally breaks off of the ceiling. The gang looks at the rock plummet before crashing right in front of the Onix. The sound causes the pokemon to let out a small growl like it is about to wake up.

"Alright, we need to leave before it fully wa-" Coal begins to say again before he is interrupted by Ryo.

"There's no time, we need to defend ourselves." Ryo says as he digs for a poke ball.

"Ryo wait!"

"Go Haunter, use Night Shade."

Ryo lets the poke ball fly as his Haunter emerges from the light given off. The ghost pokemon lets out a call as its eyes glow dark purple. Suddenly two beams of energy emit from its eyes and strike the awakening Onix.

"RAWRRR!" Onix roars as the attack hits it head on.

"That a boy Haunter!" Ryo cheers as he recalls his pokemon before Coal grabs him by the collar.

"Are you crazy?!" Coal yells.

"What's your problem?!" Ryo asks as he pushes Coal off of him. "It's down, now we can get away."

"COAL! RYO!" Kuji yells as the two look up to see Onix's massive tail about to slam down on the two.

"Slowpoke use Water Gun!" Tengan commands as his pokemon is unleashed from its poke ball.

"Slow…" Slowpoke calls before letting out a stream of concentrated water that strikes Onix's tail as Ryo and Coal put their arms up to protect themselves.

"Rawrr!"

The water gun attack causes the tail to miss its target and instead slams on the ground a few yards away from the two trainers. The attack causes the floor to shake when Onix, hurt by the battle, decides to burrow underground leaving the trainers to themselves. However, the floor continues to shake as the ground underneath Ryo and Coal break causing the two to fall through.

"Guys!" the three remaining trainers yell in unison.

Underneath the ground that broke is apparently a giant cavern, causing Ryo and Coal to fall out of sight of the others who run up to the edge of the breakage.

"Shiiiittt!" Ryo yells as he and Coal freefall down the dark cavern.

"Think Coal think…." Coal says trying to keep his cool when he comes up with an idea. "Go Trapinch!"

Coal throws his poke ball down the cavern as his partner emerges from it.

"Trap?!" Trapinch calls before realizing its falling too.

"Calm down Trapinch, I need you to use Sand Tomb and soften the ground below us." Coal commands as his pokemon nods as it tucks its legs in to dive towards the ground faster then the two trainers. Trapinch braces its body as it sees the ground coming up. Suddenly it bullets right through the floor, disappearing from sight.

"What is it doing?" Ryo asks looking over at Coal.

"Preparing us for a safe landing. Now get ready." Coal says he tightens his muscles.

Suddenly the ground below begins to swirl and become grainy as the ground pokemon turns the hard rock into a thick sand bed. The two trainers finally fall into it with a thud.

"RYO!" Seijou calls.

"Coooalll!" Kuji responds. "Are you guys ok?"

After a few seconds the two trainers emerge from the sand with a gasp as they both try to steady their breathing.

"We're ok guys!" Ryo calls out in between breaths.

"Trap!" Trapinch says as it pops up out of the sand as well.

"Good job my friend." Coal says as he pets his pokemon.

"Alright Tengan use your Abra to teleport them back up here." Seijou suggests.

"You don't think I've thought of that already? There's a problem with doing that." Tengan responds.

"And what is it?" Kuji asks confused.

"Pika?"

"Can you guys see down that cavern?"

Kuji, Seijou and Pikachu look down and see only darkness.

"No…" the two say together.

"Neither can my Abra, he can't just teleport somewhere it can't see. It could teleport itself inside a wall or something." Tengan explains.

"Hmmm but isn't Abra a psy-." Seijou begins to say when Coal calls out from inside the cavern.

"Guys it's ok, we can see a path down here. It's the same as the one up where you are." Coal says. "We'll follow this and meet up with you outside."

The three look at each other not knowing what to do. Sensing their unease Ryo reassures them.

"Guys, don't worry. Me and Coal have each other's backs." Ryo says.

"That's what I'm worried about." Tengan says under his breath.

"Say something Tengan?" Kuji asks.

"Nothing, let's just get out of here." Tengan responds after a sigh. "We'll meet you two outside then."

Tengan, Kuji and Seijou begin to walk away as Ryo and Coal trudge out of the sand. The look at the path Coal spoke of which glistens faintly. The small amount of light coming through is just enough to see the minerals.

"You sure this will lead us out of here?" Ryo asks.

"It's here for a reason, and besides my Trapinch will stay with us to detect if anything is coming at us or if it gets too dark." Coal answers sternly before walking away.

Ryo ignores the retort and follows his teammate. Twenty minutes pass and the duo are still walking the path with no end in sight. In that time the two have not said a word to each other as they just hope to get out soon. Trapinch is walking in front of Coal when it notices something in the dim cavern.

"Trap trap!" the pokemon calls out.

Coal and Ryo look ahead to see the glistening path split in two like a fork in the road. They all stop and look at both ways which look exactly the same.

"So which way should we go?" Ryo asks.

"Trapinch?" Coal asks his pokemon as it sniffs the air like a dog.

"Trap trap!" Trapinch calls pointing towards the path to the right.

"Great, Ryo it's this way." Coal states as he and Trapinch begin to walk down the path the ground pokemon suggested.

"Wait a second, how do you know?" Ryo asks objectively. "Cause your Pokemon said so?"

The remark stops Coal in his tracks as he turns to his teammate.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if its wrong? I'm sick of walking this mountain aimlessly."

"We're not, Trapinch sensed something that tells it this is the correct path to take." Coal explains.

"That's not good enough for me, my gut is telling me the left path is the correct path."

"Well isn't that convenient, the same gut that rashly attacked the Onix that sent us down here is now giving us directions." Coal retorts walking up to Ryo.

"Excuse me? My gut is how I've survived alone this whole time without any of you." Ryo responds angrily.

"Well then why don't you and your guts go and leave the team."

"HAHA wow, so you really are threatened by me." Ryo laughs which takes Coal by surprise. "Well let me break it down for you, whatever thought you had that put you as 'leader' of this group is wrong."

"Leader? I'm not trying to be-." Coal begins to say.

"Oh please spare me, I haven't been in the group long enough but I can see it clearly. You think you are the leader, you give orders and directions to take when traveling. And when the incident with Tengan happened YOU were the one who kicked him out. And now you're trying to do the same to me."

Coal doesn't respond, instead he clenches his fists.

"Look you can pretend to be the leader all you want. But there's a reason it's called a group, you are not the only person on it and you have no goddamn right to kick me out." Ryo continues getting in Coal's face. "So back the fuck off."

Coal suddenly punches Ryo in the face knocking him to one knee. Coal opens and closes his fist.

"Trap trap!?" Trapinch calls with confusion over the situation.

Ryo wipes his lip that has started to bleed a little and gets to his feet. Coal braces for retaliation when Ryo cracks his knuckles ready to fight.

"Well what do we have here brother?" A voice says disrupting the would-be fight.

Ryo and Coal look around when they hear the man's voice.

"I sure do, two trainers having a little spat. That's cute." Another man's voice calls out.

"Where the hell are those voices coming from?" Ryo asks as he and Coal continue to look for the source of the voices.

"I don't know, but keep your eyes peeled." Coal says.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ryo exclaims annoyed.

Suddenly two black clad men appear before the two trainers. One is wearing a miner's hat similar to Coal's as the other holds a pickaxe. Their clothing suggests they are either hikers or archaeologists of some sort.

"Trouble in paradise ey?" The man in the miner's hat says.

"Who are you two?" Coal asks.

"Well my name is Lyle and this is my brother Ken." the man with the axe says pointing to himself and then his brother.

"Ok and what are you doing down here?" Ryo asks still confused.

"Well if you must know, we're here to find the fabled Clefairy and their mound of Moon Stone." Ken says enthusiastically.

"Oh great not you two too." Ryo responds slapping his forehead with his palm.

"You mock us? The stories are most certainly true. Take a look at this!" Lyle says as he pulls out a grayish black stone with the size of a cantaloupe.

"That Moon Stone is humongous?!" Coal states shocked.

"Hmm we have a fellow archaeologist among us." Ken says intrigued. "So you two must be after the same stone!"

"What? No we don't give a damn about your stupid stone or your unbelievable story." Ryo responds. "We're just trying to get out of this mountain."

The two brothers look at each other before turning back to the trainers.

"We don't believe you." Lyle says putting the stone away and pulling out a poke ball as Ken does the same.

"We'll get rid of them just like the others right brother?" Ken states with a sinister smirk.

"Ok you guys are taking this way too seriously." Ryo says as he backs away.

'These two are serious, I've heard stories around town about explorers who search for the Moon Stone and or the Clefairy and go mad in the process.' Coal thinks before quickly taking out a poke ball to fight. 'We need to get pass these two.'

"Fine if that's how you want it." Ryo says as he also takes a poke ball out.

"Return Trapinch, rest as we deal with these two. Go Cacnea!"

"Go Cubone!"

The two poke balls strike the ground as light is unleashed from them that quickly takes shape and form the ground and grass pokemon.

"Go Scyther!" Lyle yells.

"Go Raticate!" Ken says.

The brother's poke balls strike the ground as the light is unleashed and form the bug and normal pokemon. Coal pulls out his pokedex and scans the two new pokemon.

"Scyther, the mantis pokemon…The sharp scythes on its forearms become increasingly sharp by cutting through hard objects. Raticate the mouse pokemon…It whittles its constantly growing fangs by gnawing on hard things. It can chew apart cinder walls."

"Formidable. This is going to be fun." Ryo says.

"Cubone!" Cubone calls as it twirls its bone club.

Coal pulls the goggles over his helmet and puts them on, his battle routine. "You ready Cacnea?"

"Cacnea!" Cacnea calls with a hop.

"Alright Ryo we can do thi-." Coal begins to say but is quickly interrupted.

"Cubone, use Headbutt!" Ryo commands.

Cubone sprints toward the two pokemon and then leaps forward with its head out in front.

"Ryo don't!" Coal yells.

"Raticate use Dig!" Ken orders.

"Scyther dodge and use Slash!" Lyle orders.

The mouse pokemon jumps forward and digs a hole. Cubone shoots over the hole and towards Scyther. However, the bug pokemon's superior agility allows it to step to the side as Cubone lunges past its mark.

"Scccyyyther!" Scyther yells as it slashes the ground pokemon upwards causing it to be launched.

"Cubone!" Ryo yells as his pokemon flails in midair.

"Now Raticate!" Ken screams as his pokemon emerges from the ground ready to strike the helpless Cubone.

"Cacnea, Pin Missile!" Coal commands as the grass pokemon launches needle projectiles at the mouse pokemon.

"Raticate!" Raticate calls as the attack strikes it right before it hit Cubone.

The attack pushes the normal pokemon away. Raticate lands on its feet and regroups next to Scyther. Cubone falls to the ground with a thud as Cacnea slides in front to protect it as Cubone gets to its feet.

"Come on Ryo, we need to defeat these guys." Coal says.

"You don't think I know that." Ryo says apprehensively.

"Raticate, Hyper Fang!"

"Scyther, Wing Attack!"

Both pokemon charge their opponents.

"Let's hit them with everything we have Ryo!" Coal says, "Cacnea use Poison Sting!"

Cacnea inhales before exhaling purple barbs from its mouth. The attack is directly squared at both attacking pokemon.

"Scyther use Agility to dodge it"

"Raticate, run right through it!"

"Huh?!" Ryo and Coal say at the same time.

Scyther side steps to avoid the attack as Raticate calls before charging through the poison sting attack. The attacks continue to pelt the mouse pokemon as it winces, but it takes them until it's a few feet away from Cacnea.

"Cubone, Focus Energy!" Ryo commands as his pokemon takes a stance while a blue aura forms around it. "Then dodge!"

"What?!" Coal says shocked.

Cubone obeys the order and abandons Cacnea as Raticate chomps down on Cacnea for massive damage. Cacnea rolls around on the cave floor for a few seconds before stopping.

"Cacnea? Are you ok?!" Coal yells as his pokemon slowly tries to pick itself up.

Raticate breathes heavily from the attacks it took when Cubone immediately slides in front of it.

"Leer attack!" Ryo commands as Cubone's eyes turn red.

The attack frightens the pokemon before Cubone grabs its bone with both hands.

"Now Bone Club!"

"Scyther Agility and then Slash!" Lyle yells causing his bug pokemon to rush towards its teammate.

"Raticate dodge!" Ken orders but to no avail as Cubone slams its bone club over the mouse pokemon's head. "Raticate!"

Scyther appears above Cubone and slashes down, but Cubone instinctively jumps backwards avoiding the slash attack. Scyther's scythe strikes the ground where Cubone was causing a small chip in the rock. Raticate falls forward unable to fight anymore.

"Dammit!" Ken says as he recalls his pokemon back into its poke ball.

"Good work Cubone, one down one more to go." Ryo says.

"You son of a bitch, why did you abandon Cacnea like that?" Coal asks angrily.

"Sorry Coal, but my gut told me that this was the only way to defeat their Raticate."

"You could have stood and fought!"

"Whatever man, their pokemon is done and now we just have to get their Scyther." Ryo says.

"I'm sorry Lyle." Ken says before Lyle puts a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Scyther should be more than enough for them." Lyle reassures, "Besides, they aren't working together. I'll just pick them off one at a time."

Cacnea is still having a hard time getting to its feet which worries Coal.

'Cacnea needs to gain some health back, but their Scyther is too fast to land a Leech Seed attack.' Coal thinks before looking towards Ryo. 'And I can't trust him to work with me to make the attack go through. So I'll just do this in the mean time.'

"Cacnea, use Ingrain!"

Suddenly, roots begin to grow from Cacnea's feet as they dig through the rock. The roots glow a neon green as nutrients begin to be sucked out of the Earth. Cacnea's body glows the same neon green color before dissipating. Cacnea's wounds are visibly more healed.

"I'll take that one out first." Lyle says as he throws his arm out in front. "Scyther attack Cacnea with a Wing Attack!"
Obeying orders, the bug pokemon flies toward Cacnea as its wings begin to glow.

"Cacnea use Pin Missile!"

Cacnea lifts both arms as the needles glow white and shoot from the pokemon's arms. Like a fighter jet, Scyther slips through the barrage of missiles and lands a super effective hit on Cacnea.

"Cubone, use your Headbutt attack!" Ryo orders causing the pokemon to shoot itself towards Scyther who has its back turned.

"Nice try, but that won't work again. Scyther use Double Team!" Lyle yells as the bug pokemon makes clones of itself.

Cubone's head butt goes right through one of the clones causing it to disappear. The ground pokemon lands on its feet looking to its left and right confused. Scyther has created clones that surround both pokemon in a circle with them in the center. Cacnea slowly gets up from the last attack as its Ingrain attack starts to slowly heal it.

"Shit, what to do now?" Ryo thinks as he surveys the situation.

"There's nothing you both can do, just accept defeat and we will end everything as quickly as possible." Ken laughs from the side.

"Cacnea…" Coal says softly as he sees his pokemon trying to recover and stave off being defeated. "I'm sorry, I failed you."

Ryo hears his teammate and looks at the young man as he looks down before he quickly snaps his head back up and punches the air in front of him.

"Alright, if we're going down we're going down fighting. Now Cacnea use Pin Missile on all of those clones!"

"Cacnea!" Cacnea calls out with a renewed confidence as it points both arms out and unleashes a furious Pin Missile attack that destroys one clone after another.

However, Coal and Cacnea's eyes widen when the clones replenish faster than they can destroy them. Cacnea stops its attack, exhausted and dejected by the hopelessness of the situation.

"How pathetic, Scyther finish this with Fury Cutter." Lyle says.

The real Scyther appears from the swarm of clones and charges toward Cacnea with its forearms ready to strike. Cacnea looks at it helpless as Coal is about to run out onto the fight grounds.

"Cubone!" The dinosaur pokemon calls as a Headbutt attack slams right into the back of the unsuspecting Scyther, causing it to fly over Cacnea.

Scyther hit's the floor before jumping to its feet angrily. Cacnea looks at Cubone happily as Coal turns to Ryo.

"Ryo…" Coal says surprised.

"Oh don't be shocked, we're teammates aren't we. And I don't know about you, but there's too much I have to do before it all ends." Ryo responds as he puts a hand on Coal's shoulder. "We can put aside our differences this time. Now let's get these jokers."

"Right!" Coal says with a nod of his head.

"That's cute, but you two don't stand a chance especially with a pokemon who is on the brink of fainting." Lyle says confidently, "Now, use Double Team again Scyther and combine that with Fury Cutter!"

"Scy!" Scyther calls as it creates more clones before they all come towards the two pokemon.

"Cubone protect Cacnea!" Ryo commands which catches Coal off guard.

Cubone gets between Scyther and Cacnea as he puts its bone club in front of it and takes the brunt of the Fury Cutters. Cubone is taking a beating as Ryo and Coal try to figure out what to do.

"Hang in there Cubone!" Ryo yells.

'How can we turn this around?' Coal thinks as he looks at the Scyther before he comes up with something. "Ryo! Have Cubone fling its bone club in the air."

"Huh? Coal what are you thinking?"

"Just trust me!"

Ryo looks at his teammate who has stern eyes when he turns to the fight.

"Cubone toss your bone club in the air like a baton as high as you can."

Cubone takes a second to chuck its bone club in the air. The bone twirls toward the ceiling and hovers there like a helicopter.

"Cacnea use Pin Missile on the bone!" Coal orders urgently.

Cacnea points both arms to the ceiling and shoot the missiles at the bone. The glowing white missiles strike the twirling bone which causes the missiles to scatter in all directions and rain down on the field.

"What the?!" Lyle screams as he sees the Pin Missiles soak the field with its attack.

Each clone created by Scyther is destroyed until the real Scyther is left standing there as the missiles rain down on it.

"Scyther!" The bug pokemon calls as it is barraged by the attack.

"Alright Cubone finish it with a Bone Club attack!" Ryo orders as the bone club finally stops and drops into Cubone's hand.

Cubone charges the bug pokemon who is badly wounded by the previous attack and slashes through it like a samurai. Scyther looks at Cubone before falling flat on its face in defeat.

"Scyther, no!" Lyle screams as he and his brother look on shocked by their defeat.

"We did it!" Ryo yells as both Cubone and Cacnea look at each other and nod in approval before the trainers recall their pokemon.

"Now that we have defeated you, I think it's best you leave." Coal says.

"You think so?" Ken states as Lyle hands him an axe.

Both men stare down Coal and Ryo with their weapons.

"Whoa guys, you lost fair and square." Ryo says. "Now just go back to digging up rocks."

"We can't, not after what you've seen or know." Lyle says as him and his brother inch closer.

"Jeez, I don't want to have to resort to violence." Coal says as he and Ryo take out another poke ball.

"But they've given us no choice." Ryo adds.

All of a sudden the ground begins to shake as a wild Onix breaks through the ceiling above the two men. Ken and Lyle look up and scream as the rock snake slams down on them and digs underground again. Coal and Ryo just stand there shocked as the two men are no where to be seen.

"I…I take back every bad thing I've said about Onixs." Ryo states as he and Coal put away their poke balls.

"I hear ya." Coal says as he turns to Ryo. "Look Ryo, I'm sorry for not trusting you. To be honest I WAS threatened, you seemed to be able to do everything I could and the others seemed to like you. I should have given you a chance. And if I come off as bossy, I'm sorry for that too. There is no leader in our group."

"Well, I didn't make things better by allowing your pokemon to get hurt like that during the battle. And I didn't mean to take your 'role' on the team, I just wanted to carry my own weight." Ryo responds kicking a pebble on the floor. "And I know deep down you weren't trying to be the 'leader', but if we had one I wouldn't mind if you were it."

"So we're cool?" Coal asks as he offers a handshake.

"Well, not just yet." Ryo says which catches Coal off guard.

Ryo clenches his fist and lands a cross to Coal's face, knocking him to one knee.

"Now we're cool."

Coal looks up at Ryo and spits out a little blood from his mouth as Ryo helps his teammate up.

"So you said the path to the right?" Ryo asks.

Coal nods as the two head down the path.

Outside of Mt. Moon…

Tengan and Seijou are standing waiting for their teammates while Kuji and his Pikachu pace back and forth.

"Ok I can't just stay here. I'm going in after them." Kuji states as he and Pikachu walk to the mouth of the cave.

"Wait Kuji, you would have no way of finding them." Seijou explains trying to keep his friend from going in.

"That doesn't matter what if something happened to them?"

"Come on Kuji, Coal and Ryo are fully capable of taking care of themselves." Tengan says as he crosses his arms. "Just be patient."

Kuji takes a deep breath out of frustration when footsteps are head coming from the mountain exit. The three trainers look in to see Coal and Ryo walk out with tattered and dirty clothes.

"Guys!" the three trainers yell in unison as they run up to them.

"Are you two ok?" Seijou asks concerned.

"Yea we're fine." Ryo answers as Tengan examines the two and notices Coal with a bloody lip and Ryo with a small swelling on his cheek.

"You sure about that?" Tengan asks giving them a look. "Worked out your differences?"

"You can say that." Coal exclaims after he and Ryo look at each other. "Respect is there."

"Wait, were you two fighting earlier?" Seijou asks as he points to Ryo and Coal.

Tengan, Coal and Ryo just walk away shaking their heads as Seijou, Kuji and Pikachu stay behind confused.

"Wait guys hold on!" Kuji calls out as the three follow their friends out of the mountain area.

The group of five trainers and one Pikachu head off over the horizon and towards Cereulean City as two Clefairy look over a boulder at the group with large smiles.

The sharp scythes on its forearms become increasingly sharp by cutting through hard objects.