Author's Note: How often do you actually see Rock Tunnel in a fic? Besides, it wasn't even mentioned in the anime OR PokéSpecial. Hence, why Ren is heading there.

Chapter Twenty: Vs Bellsprout!

"P-Petro? I wonder what everyone is doing in front of the Pokémon Center…"

Ren blinked as she stopped short a few feet from Vermillion's Pokémon Center. There was a small group of trainers gathered around the door, and a tall brunette girl suddenly burst out of the door. She was holding an unfolded newspaper in her hand, and apparently started reading it aloud to the rest of the group.

Curiously, Ren and Petro tiptoed over. Despite the fact that they ended up in the back of the crowd, it was still fairly easy to hear what the girl was reading.

"Lavender's Silence Bridge is currently under repairs, and is not expected to be completed for another two weeks in the earliest," she announced, looking extremely focused on the article. "Unfortunately, this means that Lavender is cut off from Vermillion and Fuchsia. Any traveling trainers who do not wish to wait are recommended to travel through Rock Tunnel near Cerulean, as Saffron City's recent power outages are dangerous."

"Two weeks?" a skinny blonde boy demanded. "What's the deal?"

"Hey, you can still go through Rock Tunnel," the girl pointed out, frowning as she re-folded the newspaper.

"Come on. That place sounds even more dangerous than Saffron," the boy snorted. "I heard there was a rockslide there last month."

"That's a lie. The only rockslides that ever go on around here are the ones in Mt. Moon," another girl replied imperiously.

Ren and Petro stole a glance at each other as they heard the comment. Neither felt the need to mention that some of these rockslides were even caused during excavations by the excavator's own Pokémon.

"Well, I'm going through Rock Tunnel. I need to visit a memorial service soon for one of my cousin's old Pokémon," the first girl sighed, slipping the newspaper into her backpack. "Are you coming with me, Addie?"

"Of course," the shorter girl replied. "Let's go get a bite to eat and head back to Cerulean, okay?"

"Great!"

The two girls grinned as they pushed open the Pokémon Center's doors. Shaking their heads, the rest of the group slowly dispersed, and Ren blinked again as she looked down at Petro.

"Um, I guess we should eat too," Ren drifted off. "And then should we go to Cerulean?"

"Chu!" Petro nodded decisively.

Ren grinned, taking a few quick steps toward the Pokémon Center. "Okay, good!"

Petro nodded, darting along with her instead of running ahead.

Having gone to bed right after eating, Ren woke up fairly early the next morning—she was even awake before Petro for once. The Pikachu was curled up next to her sleeping bag, but he looked like he was sleeping fairly lightly. A few seconds later, he rolled over onto his side and started to blink.

"Pika?" he said sleepily.

"Good morning, Petro," Ren greeted, crawling out of her sleeping bag.

Petro started to stand up as Ren rolled up her sleeping bag. The pair headed to the front of the common room, and Ren returned her sleeping bag to the collection box. By then, Petro had fully woken up, and he started scampering ahead of her to get to the cafeteria.

When they got there, the line was fairly short since there weren't very many other trainers that had woken up that early. Ren took two pieces of toast and from the serving bar and handed one to Petro, and they ate on the way back to the lobby. Petro kept pausing between bites to make sure he didn't have any crumbs in his fur, and Ren giggled as she watched him.

They got to the lobby a few minutes later, and Ren blinked as she started to look around. Petro crossed his arms as he followed, looking curious but impatient at the same time.

"Sometimes they have maps hanging up in the lobby," Ren explained as she passed a bookshelf.

"Chu…"

Petro reluctantly kept up with Ren, and a few seconds later Ren found a scaled-down map of Kanto hanging above one of the lobby's small couches. She searched for Rock Tunnel, and sure enough, she found it slightly to the east of Cerulean City. Fortunately, it looked like there was a small path near the Underground Tunnel that led around Cerulean, so she'd be able to get there quickly.

"Okay, Petro, let's go!"

"Pika!"

Petro agreed eagerly as he darted towards the Pokémon Center's door, startling a few other early risers.

"This place seems… longer than before…"

Ren panted slightly as she and Petro reached the end of Vermillion's Underground Tunnel. They had entered the tunnel right after leaving the Pokémon Center, and while it definitely took the same length of time as it had before, Ren was out of breath. It had to be because she'd just woken up, but then again, Petro seemed to be totally fine.

"Chu," he commented, looking bored.

Ren paused for a few seconds to catch her breath, and then turned to the staircase at the back of the hallway. She climbed up the stairs slowly, and unlatched the trap door at the top. Petro scurried up into the small entrance room, and Ren slid the trap door back in place after she climbed out too. She then opened the building's small wooden door, and it creaked as she closed it again.

Ren smiled slightly as she and Petro started following the winding dirt path away from the tunnel. She could see Cerulean City slightly in the distance, and while it could have been fun to stop by again, she had to remember to go around the city. Fortunately, the right turn was easy to find, and Ren and Petro suddenly found the path to be narrowing slightly.

"Ka?" Petro blinked.

Ren stopped walking as well. The path led to a dry, rocky area with several small hills, quite unlike the green, flowery area they'd just been in. Slightly disappointed, Ren took a few more steps, figuring the landscape made sense if they were heading to a cave… She did like plants better, though.

Carefully avoiding a few rocks in the path, Ren took a few more turns. Petro, however, managed to jump over a few of the rocks, although it slowed him down a bit. Eventually, he just walked along with her, apparently realizing it would be easier that way.

After a few more minutes of the maneuvering the mountain trail, Ren had to stop to catch her breath again. Petro looked slightly annoyed, but paused as well. He then, however, looked to the side, and looked confused for once.

"Chu?"

A short girl in a green camping outfit was apparently taking a break as well a few feet away. She was leaning against a particularly tall rock, taking a long drink of water. When she looked up, she straightened her hat and brushed a piece of her short hair out of her face, and cocked her head as she looked at Ren.

"Hi," she said genially. "Are you heading to Cerulean, too?"

"Uh, actually… I'm heading to Rock Tunnel," Ren explained.

"I just came from there," the girl replied. "It's not all that confusing to get through, but it's kind of long. Oh, and my name's Lily, by the way. You?"

"Um, Ren. And this is Petro"

"Cool," Lily commented, causing Petro to grin proudly. "Hey, by the way, would you like to have a quick battle? I want to challenge Misty later, so I need some practice."

"Okay, that sounds kinda fun," Ren agreed.

"Great! I only have my Bellsprout with me right now, though."

Lily reached for the one Pokéball on her belt, and released a skinny, vine-like Pokémon with a large bell-shaped head. Petro started to step forward, but Ren shook her head. Pouting, Petro folded his arms as Ren reached for Sol's Pokéball.

"I'll use my Charmander, then."

Sol materialized next to Ren, looking confident when he saw Bellsprout. In response, the plant Pokémon simply blinked mildly.

"Bellsprout, use Razor Leaf," Lily grinned.

"Um, Sol, use Ember!"

Bellsprout inhaled sharply, and then shot a flurry of leaves out of its wide mouth. As the attack shot towards Sol, the Charmander paused. He then turned to his side and grabbed his tail, blowing on the flame. The fire struck the first few leaves, burning them easily, and several other leaves sizzled when they hit the first few. A bit of the attack still hit Sol, though, and he stumbled backwards.

"Now use Giga Drain!"

Bellsprout nodded and closed its eyes. A light green glow surrounded both Bellsprout and Sol, and Sol started to get a bit wobbly. He stumbled again, but Bellsprout seemed to be getting more energetic.

"Sol!" Ren cried. "Try to use Flamethrower!"

Gritting his teeth, Sol forced himself to step forward, despite the fact that he was starting to droop. He then managed to open his mouth and forced out a Flamethrower. The attack was a bit weak, but a bit of it still managed to hit Bellsprout. Its eyes widened as one of the wide leaves on its side started to burn and quickly squatted down, trying to blow it out, and the hesitation was enough for it to stop the Giga Drain.

"Okay, Sol, I think you can beat it if you use Scratch now," Ren called.

Sol leapt forward with his claws out, and Bellsprout looked up in confusion. It had just managed to get the flames out when Sol quickly scratched it across the side, and it tumbled over, fainted. Lily sighed and withdrew Bellsprout, scratching the back of her neck.

"I guess I need to do a bit of training still, but that was a Fire-Type… It was a good battle though."

"Yep!" Ren agreed, withdrawing Sol as well. "It was."

"Thanks, Ren. See you later!"

Ren waved to Lily as she left, and then looked down at Petro, who had been watching the battle with quite a bit of interest.

"Maybe we can get to Rock Tunnel soon now. Want to see?"

"Pika!"

Grinning, Petro nodded, and the two started walking along the rough trail again.