Sorry it's taken a little while to get this one out – things have been a little busy with me recently.

Having encountered Tessa in Sandoa Town and with Livvi having lost to her, the group now continues south in the direction of Lavender Town.

Upload Date: 2nd September 2013


Chapter 28: Chaos in Rock Tunnel

Route 10, Kanto

11:57am, 27th April 2005

"Here we are!" James grinned, putting his fists on his hips. Livvi, Richard and Josh joined him at the crest of the hill they'd been climbing and looked down at the sight that greeted them.

A single pokémon centre sat on a dusty patch of land enclosed by the mountain. Right next to it was the imposing black hole that marked the entrance to Rock Tunnel.

"Great!" Richard said cheerfully. "Once we're through Rock Tunnel, we'll be practically in Lavender Town."

"No time like the present," Josh added. "Let's go!" The four of them started walking down towards the entrance of their last obstacle before Lavender Town.


It was darker than they'd expected. Pitch black to be exact.

"Go, Charka!" James called, throwing the charmander's poké ball through the gloom.

The cavern exploded into light as the energy from Charka's release acted temporarily as a torch. Then the light faded, leaving only Charka's tail as a guide.

"Okay, Charka," James said. "We need you to go ahead so we can see where we're going."

Charka nodded and started cutting a path through the darkness for the others to follow.

"Or we could use the torches," Josh suggested.

"Hadn't thought of that!" James laughed. "Still, Charka can help!"

Josh stopped a second to rummage through his backpack. After a few seconds, he pulled out his torch and flicked it on.

"Much better!" He grinned. "Sorry, Charka!" he called to the now disheartened-looking charmander. "Your flame's just not quite strong enough yet."

"Don't listen to him, Charka! I think you're doing a great job!" James grinned.

Charka grinned back and continued walking.

"Know anything about Rock Tunnel, Livvi?" James asked. Livvi hadn't spoken that much today. James was desperate to get her talking again.

"It's not a tunnel," Livvi replied.

"What do you mean 'it's not a tunnel'?" Richard cried.

"Okay, maybe 'not a tunnel' wasn't the best choice of words," Livvi replied quickly. "Rock Tunnel basically has one passage that goes straight through and tons of others that criss-cross the interior of the mountain."

"Why are there so many other passages?" James asked.

"There used to be valuable minerals here," Livvi replied. "The other passages were dug to get at them."

"What you're basically saying is that we need to be careful not to get lost, right?" Josh called back.

"No." Livvi shook her head. "The passage out to Lavender Town is pretty much straight from here and it's well-marked. James was asking me what I knew about Rock Tunnel and that's what I know!"

"Whoa! Sorry for being so ignorant!" Josh grinned.

James gave him a look, knowing that his attitude would do little to help Livvi's mood. She'd lightened up a bit the previous afternoon, but she'd been irritable and grumpy upon waking up that morning and had remained so all through the day so far.

"I know you're still upset about Tessa beating you," Richard said gently. "But can't you try and be a little happier?"

"I have been trying!" Livvi snapped. "And it hasn't worked!"

Richard gave up. They continued walking in silence for a few minutes before Josh's torch picked out something in the darkness. A pink something with pointy ears, a curly tail and a pair of tiny wings.

"What is that?" James wondered, reaching for his Pokédex.

"Clefairy, the fairy pokémon and the evolved form of cleffa. It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of clefairy dancing under a full moon."

"Shame there isn't a full moon and more clefairy," Josh sighed. "Because we could really use that happiness right now."

"I didn't know you could find clefairy in Rock Tunnel," James said as he put his Pokédex away. "Do you think it could be a trained pokémon?"

"I know how we can find out." Livvi pulled out a poké ball and threw it at the clefairy.

The clefairy noticed them as the ball struck it squarely on the forehead. The ball bounced off, but it didn't open.

"It's a trained pokémon," Livvi said. She started walking over to pick up her poké ball.

The clefairy shook its head and ran towards them frantically.

"What's up?" Richard wondered. The clefairy started tugging at Livvi's jeans.

"I don't know," Livvi replied, looking down at the fairy pokémon.

"Where's its trainer?" Josh suddenly asked, looking around.

The clefairy cried out again and ran towards a passage on their right before stopping and looking back at them.

"I think it wants us to follow it," said Livvi. She started walking towards the clefairy. As soon as she reached it, it ran further down the passage.

"It seems distressed as well," James said, noticing the worried look in its eyes and the way it hopped from one foot to the other while waiting for them to catch up.

"Is your trainer in trouble?" Livvi asked, addressing the clefairy now.

The clefairy nodded.

"We've got to help then!" James cried. "Lead the way, Clefairy!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Josh murmured as he followed the others off the main passage.


12:14pm, 27th April 2005

"Which way now, Clefairy?" Livvi asked, looking around. They'd reached a crossroads in the tunnel.

Clefairy wandered over to the passage on the left, then seemed to change its mind and headed for the one on the right.

"Are you sure, Clefairy?" James asked.

Clefairy looked down worriedly.

"It's okay if you don't know exactly where to go." Livvi smiled. "I'm sure we'll be able to hear your trainer when we get close."

Behind them, Richard suddenly snapped his fingers. "Got an idea!" he announced. He pulled out a poké ball and released the pokémon inside.

Sting buzzed as he materialised.

"What's Sting going to do?" James asked.

"He can help us listen out for Clefairy's trainer!" Richard grinned. "Right?"

Sting nodded. He flew up to where Clefairy was standing and hovered above it. For a few moments, no one did anything. They all silently watched Sting, the only sound being the humming of the beedrill's wings.

"Are you sure he can do this?" James whispered to Richard.

"Don't worry," Richard replied quietly. "Sting has excellent hearing."

Sting suddenly cried and flew off down the tunnel on their right.

"Looks like he heard something!" Richard grinned. "Nice job, Sting!"

"Let's hurry!" Josh called. "We don't want to lose him in the darkness!"


12:20pm, 27th April 2005

"Which way now, Sting?" Richard asked. Sting had led them to another crossroad, where he'd paused to listen again.

"Give him a chance!" James grinned.

Sting hovered in place at the centre and listened carefully. "Beee!" he cried suddenly.

"I hear it too!" Richard cried. He and Sting tore off down the left passage. James, Livvi, Josh and Clefairy rushed after them. As they did, they heard a voice calling in the distance.

"Clefairy? Clefairy, is that you?"

Clefairy called out in response. It leapt into the air and, flapping its wings, flew the rest of the way down the passage. It overtook Richard and Sting as they rounded a final corner. Richard's torch picked out a girl with long brown hair sat at the side of the passage. It was easy to pick her out thanks to her pink top.

"Careful with that light!" she exclaimed, shielding her eyes.

"Sorry!" Richard pointed his torch down. "Is this your clefairy?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded. "I sent her back to the main passage to get help."

"What happened?" Richard asked as Livvi, Josh and James came round the corner.

"We were attacked by a wild machoke," the girl replied. "We managed to get away, but I ended up tripping and twisting my ankle. Now I can barely stand!"

"It's okay, we'll help you," said Livvi. "My name's Livvi Weston by the way, I'm from Viridian City, and these are my friends Richard, James and Josh."

"I'm Sara Hurst from Spire City," the girl replied. "Thanks for helping!"

"You said you were attacked by a machoke, right?" James said.

"That's right." Sara nodded. "Why?"

"Did you manage to defeat it?"

"No, we only just managed to escape," Sara replied.

"Then it could still be around somewhere," James said ominously.

"Here's what we'll do then," Livvi began. "Josh, since your eevee will be weak against a fighting type like machoke, you can help Sara. James and Richard, you guys can keep an eye out for that machoke and battle it if it attacks us."

"Got it!" James nodded, pulling out a poké ball as he did. "Go, Ayra!"

Ayra cried out as he burst out of the poké ball.

"If that machoke appears, then we can just put it to sleep with Ayra's Spore!" James grinned.

Charka nodded enthusiastically in agreement from James' shoulder.

"And you can count on me and Sting!" Richard grinned.

Sting buzzed idly in reply.

There was a click as Sara pulled out her Pokédex.

"Beedrill, the poison bee pokémon and the evolved form of kakuna. Its best attack involves flying around at high speed, striking with poison needles, then flying off."

"I've never seen a beedrill this close before," Sara said, looking at Sting with interest.

"Beedrill are nothing special," Josh said as he helped her to her feet.

"What was that?" Richard demanded.

"Shut up, guys!" Livvi said sharply as Sara withdrew Clefairy. "I think I heard something!"

They all stopped and listened. In the distance, they could just pick out a menacing growl growing steadily closer.

"It's that machoke!" Sara squeaked in fright. The tall, muscular figure of a machoke loomed out of the darkness and into the light of their torches further down the passage. It roared, looking straight at them.

"Josh, help Sara get away! We'll hold it off!" Livvi called.

"Are you sure about this?" Josh called back.

"Just get moving!" Livvi snapped in response.

Josh was silent for a second before nodding. "Don't stay too long!" he said as he and Sara started to make their way back down the passage.

Livvi turned back to face the machoke and pulled out a poké ball. "Go, Barru!"

Barru cried out as he materialised.

The machoke was starting to charge towards them now.

"Use Spore!" James yelled.

"Sting, use Twineedle!" Richard called.

"Use Razor Leaf, Barru!" Livvi shouted.

Barru quickly fired a cloud of leaves while Sting dived under them and prepared to attack machoke in the side. Ayra, however, did nothing.

"What's the matter, Ayra?" James cried.

Ayra grimaced as he tried to fire a blast of spores at the machoke.

James quickly dropped to the ground next to him.

"James, you can't just stop in the middle of a battle!" Livvi shouted.

"Something's wrong with Ayra!" James retorted. "I need you guys to hold on just for a sec!"

"Don't be too long!" Richard cried as Sting landed his attack on the machoke's massive forearm, though all it seemed to do was irk the wild pokémon further.

James quickly examined Ayra's tochukaso.

"I don't believe this!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" Livvi asked as James gingerly ran his fingers along the underside of the mushrooms.

"You remember that guy we met in Sandoa Town, Aaron?" he asked her.

"Yeah!" Livvi nodded.

"That spray he used on Ayra turned his spores into some kind of paste," James said. "And it's all hardened now."

"Maybe you should have washed Ayra down too!" Richard shouted

"He was too busy panicking about whether or not his face was going to melt!" Livvi replied.

"Shut up!" James blushed in embarrassment as he withdrew Ayra. "I wasn't panicking!"

"Watch out, Sting!" Richard cried suddenly as the machoke swung a fist towards the beedrill.

Sting flew back in Richard's direction just in time. The machoke instead ploughed its fist into the tunnel wall. It roared in pain.

"We've got it now!" Livvi grinned. "Barru, use-" She was cut off by a loud rumbling. Then the ground started to shake and chunks of rock started falling from the ceiling.

"The roof's coming down!" James yelled.

"Scatter!" Livvi screamed, immediately recalling Barru to his poké ball. She and the others dived out of the way as a cascade of boulders tumbled down from above and dust filled the air. For a few seconds, all they could hear was the crunching of rock on rock. Just as quickly as it had started, it was over.

Recovering from his dazed state and noticing that Charka was no longer on his shoulder, James rushed back to the massive wall of boulders that had previously been a crossroads in the path. "Charka! Livvi! Richard! Are you okay!" he shouted.

"I'm fine!" He heard Livvi shout back from what sounded like the left. "Charka's here with me and he's fine too! Are you alright?"

"I'm good!" James yelled. "Richard, are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Richard's voice came from another side of the wall. "Sting too!"

"That's a relief!" James could hear the emotion in Livvi's voice.

"It looks like we've been separated!" Richard yelled.

"Yeah," James agreed, looking at the solid wall of boulders. "Should we try and dig our way back to each other?"

They heard the machoke roar from the final direction, followed by a crunch and the sound of crumbling rock. Clearly that machoke was still out to get them.

"On second thought, let's just get away from here first and try to meet up later!" Richard called.

"I agree!" James shouted. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his torch. "Is that okay with you, Livvi?"

"Uh, yeah!" James heard her shout back uncertainly.

"Are you sure?" he called.

"I… I'm scared, okay!" she shouted. "I don't have a torch and that machoke will probably burrow through in my direction first!"

"You'll be okay!" James called back encouragingly. "You've got Charka with you to act as a light, and he'll protect you from the machoke if needs be!"

There was silence for a second.

"Alright!" Livvi shouted, sounding a bit more reassured.

"Make sure you take care of her, Charka!" James yelled. He heard the charmander call back determinedly.

"See you soon, guys!" Richard shouted.

"Be careful!" Livvi called.

"Will do!" James yelled. He heard the sound of the others' footsteps as they set off. Guess I better get going. Holding the torch out to light his way, he set off down the tunnel.


"What was that noise?" Sara cried in alarm.

"I don't know!" Josh replied. He paused for a second. "Do you think the others are alright?"

"I hope so," Sara sighed. "The machoke here are really powerful. I was actually hoping to catch one myself."

"You were?" Josh asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Sara nodded. "That's why I was so far off the main path – the wild machoke don't go near the main passage."

"I guess that makes sense," Josh sighed. They'd reached a fork in the road. "Which way now?"

"Hold on." Sara sat down on a rock and stuck one hand in her bag. "Here we are!" she pulled out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" Josh asked.

"It's a map of these passages," Sara replied.

"You've got a map?" Josh exclaimed. "I was worried we'd be wandering around for ages!" He thought for a second. "But what about the others?" he asked. "They don't have a map!"

"Don't worry." Sara smiled. She pointed to a crossroads on the map. "That's where we left the others," she now pointed to the passage that lead towards the top of the map. "That's the one the machoke was approaching from, so they won't have gone this way."

"But they could have gone to the left or right rather than following us," said Josh urgently.

"Those passages both lead around and into one here," Sara replied, pointing to a large line on the map not too far from them. "I think we should head there and wait for them to catch up."

"Alright." Josh nodded. "We'd better get moving then."


"It's no good, Ayra," James sighed, standing up. "We're just going to have to wait until we get to the pokémon centre so we can wash it off."

Ayra looked down sadly. It must be really uncomfortable for him.

"Well, it isn't hurting you, so don't worry about it." James smiled. He started walking forwards again.

Ayra gave a determined nod and scuttled along next to him.

"I wonder how the others are doing," James murmured.

Ayra chimed in cheerfully from near his ankle.

"Yeah." James nodded. "I'm sure they're fine!" He thought back to the tunnel collapse. There was something bothering him about it – aside from the nearly getting crushed part. If the collapse had been triggered by the machoke accidentally striking the tunnel wall instead of hitting Sting, then why had the actual collapse happened above them? He'd understand if the collapse had spread that far, but clearly the machoke hadn't even been hit by the falling rocks.

Ayra called out to him.

"What is it?" James asked, snapping back to reality. They'd wandered into a cavern that was just smaller than the arena Livvi had fought Tessa on the previous day. An assortment of boulders dotted the ground. For a second, James was worried that they'd come to a dead end. However, as he walked through the cavern, he noticed that there was another passage that led to the right.

"That's a relief," he sighed. His mind drifted back to the rock fall again. It could have been that the piece of wall the machoke hit had been a patch of weak rock that had extended above to the ceiling above them. That made sense.

But hang on – now that he thought about it, the point of the wall the machoke hit had been further away from them than Sting, its target, had been. Had the machoke not been aiming for Sting at all? In that case, maybe…

James pulled out a poké ball. "I think we've got time for a little training," he murmured to himself.


Richard had been walking for a while now. His legs were starting to ache.

"I guess I could afford to take a little break," he mumbled to no one in particular. He sat down by the side of the passage. "I wonder how the others are doing."

There was, obviously, no response. Sighing, Richard pulled a chocolate bar out of his bag and starting munching on it. Hopefully this will give me some more energy. It was at that moment that he heard a sound from further down the tunnel.

"Is it a machoke?" he hissed to himself, stuffing his chocolate bar back in his bag and jumping up. He listened carefully.

There was a quiet, almost mournful cry in the distance. It didn't sound like a machoke. Richard decided to investigate. He set off down the passage, holding his torch out ahead of him to light the way.

There it was again, only louder this time. He was getting close. He rounded a corner in the tunnel and the light of his torch picked out a small bird with red wings, black feathers on its back and brown feathers on its head.

"A spearow? In here?" Richard wondered.

The spearow cried out again. Richard clutched his ears – spearow was a small pokémon, but it had a really loud cry!

"What are you doing here?" Richard asked. The spearow noticed him and immediately adopted a battle stance. "Whoa! It's okay – I'm not here to hurt you!" Richard exclaimed, raising his hands.

The spearow growled at him. It didn't sound too threatening. In fact, Richard could detect fear.

"Did you get lost in here?" he asked. The spearow continued to glare at him. "Okay," he said. "Are you hungry?" He took a bowl out of his bag and tipped some pokémon food into it. He gingerly placed it on the ground between him and the spearow and backed off.

The spearow turned its head to one side and looked at him. It cautiously approached the bowl and started to eat. Clearly it had been hungry.

"Better?" Richard grinned.

The spearow called out in delight.

"So, did you get lost in here?" Richard asked.

The spearow nodded before finishing off the pokémon food.

"Alright." Richard picked the bowl up and put it back in his bag. "I'm lost too, so why don't we try and find the way out together?"

The spearow nodded and hopped up to perch on Richard's shoulder.

"Let's get going!" Richard grinned.


"There's still no sign of the others!" Livvi sighed. She sat down on a large rock at the side of the tunnel.

Charka jumped up and sat next to her.

"Why did it have to be a machoke?" Livvi mumbled to herself.

"Charmander?" Charka looked up at her with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" she asked.

Charka nodded.

"Alright," Livvi sighed. "It was about a year and a half ago…"


Mt. Evergreen, Kanto

1:24pm, 18th September 2003

There was a brilliant blue sky above Mt. Evergreen, a densely forested peak just east of Talcrey City. Gerald Weston had come here on a family outing with his wife, Holly, and his two daughters, 11-year-old Tessa and 9-year-old Livvi. Both he and Holly had been hoping for a relatively quiet and relaxing day. But they'd learned a long time ago that peace and quiet were rare luxuries when Tessa and Livvi were together.

"I still don't understand why you called him 'Detra'!" Livvi exclaimed. "It's a rubbish name!"

"Shut up, Livvi! At least I didn't give him a really stupid name, like 'Barru' or something!" Tessa retorted.

"I like the name 'Barru'!" Livvi scowled.

"So I guess when you copy me and choose a bulbasaur as your starter, you'll call it 'Barru'?" Tessa smirked.

"So what if I do?" Livvi fumed. "We'd still be more powerful than you and Detra! You couldn't even get through the qualifiers for the Kanto League!"

"You're so forgetful, Livvi – I got knocked out in the First Round, not the qualifiers." Tessa grinned. "But we'll do better next time, right, Detra?"

The bulbasaur nodded. He was lying on his stomach next to his trainer, enjoying the sunshine. Tessa reached over and stroked his head.

"Well, when I become a trainer, I'll challenge you to a battle and I'll win!" Livvi grinned.

"Nah, you'll just lose and get upset," Tessa replied dismissively. "Besides, Detra has almost mastered Solar Beam now – you won't be able to stand up to that!"

"Give it a rest you two," Gerald groaned. "You've been at it since we left home!"

"Livvi started it!" Tessa complained.

"No I didn't!" Livvi yelled angrily.

"It takes two to argue." Gerald frowned. "Alright, Tessa, go and sit over there." He pointed to a tree on the far side of their picnic blanket. "And, Livvi, go and sit at that one." He pointed to another tree.

"It's not fair!" Livvi protested. "She's picking on me!"

"Livvi!" Gerald warned.

"Fine!" Livvi shouted and stormed off.

Gerald, Holly and Tessa watched her go.

"What did you do?" Gerald turned to face Tessa.

"Me?" Tessa asked innocently. "I haven't done anything."

Gerald sighed. "Why can we never have a nice family outing?"


Livvi trudged through the woodland, occasionally kicking stones that lay in her way.

"Why is she so mean all the time?" She wondered aloud. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. Livvi sighed and kept walking. Tessa had become more bossy and superior ever since she'd become a pokémon trainer. Worse, she was telling her pokémon to play tricks on her – only a few days ago, Livvi had caught Detra chewing on her shoes.

Livvi let out another sigh. She supposed she should be grateful that Tessa had chosen the more harmless bulbasaur as her starter. If she's chosen a charmander, then most of Livvi's stuff would have probably been set on fire at regular intervals. If she's chosen a squirtle, then it would probably squirt cold water at her, and Livvi hated the cold.

"Yeah," Livvi told herself. "It would be much worse if Tessa had a squirtle, so I should just consider myself lucky that she doesn't."

At that moment, she noticed something in the cliff nearby.

"Wow! It's a cave!" she exclaimed excitedly. She ran over to the entrance and peeked in. "I wonder if there's any treasure in there. Tessa said that the caves she visited while travelling had loads of treasure! I wonder what she did with it all…" She cautiously entered the cave, placing one foot in front of the other and keeping her left hand on the cold rock of the cave wall. After a couple of seconds, she paused to let her eyes adjust to the gloom. She shuddered – it was much cooler in here than it was outside. She took a couple more steps forward.

A sound!

Livvi froze. It sounded like snoring. She peered through the darkness, trying to pick out the source of the sound. After a couple of seconds, she saw the silhouette of a muscular figure. There were three ridges on its head.

"It's a machoke," Livvi breathed. Her heart clenched as it stirred in its sleep before settling down again. I need to get out of here Livvi thought. She started backing up towards the entrance. She was almost there, when her foot slipped on a loose pebble. The pebble clattered down into the darkness as Livvi fell on her back.

Livvi heard the growl as the machoke woke up. She quickly tried to scramble back as the huge figure lumbered out of the shadows towards her, but she wasn't going quickly enough. Livvi screwed her eyes shut and screamed as the machoke raised its fist.

"Razor Leaf!"

Livvi opened her eyes again to see the machoke get hit by cloud of leaves. She looked back to find Tessa and Detra standing in the entrance of the cave.

"Now use Solar Beam!" Tessa called.

Detra closed his eyes and started absorbing sunlight into his bulb.

"What are you waiting for?" Tessa called to Livvi. "Get out of there!"

Livvi pulled herself up and ran back behind Tessa.

The machoke reappeared from the shadows and lunged towards them.

"Now, Detra!" Tessa shouted as Livvi screamed and hid behind her.

Detra fired a white beam of light from his bulb that struck the machoke just below its chin. With a roar, it toppled back down into the cave with a mighty crash.

"Alright!" Tessa grinned. "We mastered Solar Beam!"

Detra beamed up at her.

"Now." Tessa turned to Livvi and frowned. "What did you think you were-" She was interrupted as Livvi flung her arms round her, buried her face in her jumper and started crying. Tessa's expression softened. "It's okay," she whispered, hugging her younger sister. "You're safe now."


Rock Tunnel, Kanto

12:34pm, 27th April 2005

"And I've been scared of machoke ever since," Livvi finished. "It's not like a paralysing fear, just that I get really uneasy if I'm near one." She looked down at Charka to find that he was lying on his back and snoring contentedly. "Hey! At least have the courtesy to stay awake when I tell you a story!"

Charka leapt up, suddenly alert.

"Honestly," Livvi sighed. "I think some of James' bad manners are starting to affect you as well!"

Charka grabbed her sleeve and tugged at it, pointing down the tunnel.

"What is it?" Livvi followed where he was pointing. There was something moving in the darkness.

Charka took a deep breath and blasted a stream of embers towards it, bathing the tunnel in an eerie orange light. As Charka had intended, it lit up the approaching figure.

The machoke growled menacingly.

"Ah! We stopped for too long!" Livvi yelped. She grabbed Charka and took off down the passage. She heard the thundering of the machoke's feet as it charged after them. "We just need to get some distance between us and it, and then we'll be fine!" Livvi shouted, more to herself than to Charka.

They heard the machoke's surprised cry followed by a loud crash behind. Livvi stopped and turned around.

"What happened?" she exclaimed, noticing that the machoke had fallen over.

A mankey leapt out of the shadows, his right fist glowing a dark red colour.

"Is that...?" Livvi wondered as the mankey's attack struck the machoke, knocking it out.

Charka cried out excitedly.

The mankey cheered, running over towards them.

"Great work, Raenok!" Livvi heard James' voice.

"James! Is that you?" she cried.

"Yeah!" The light from James' torch appeared, followed by him, from around a corner. "Sorry I took so long."

"I'd have only said you took too long if you'd arrived in time to see me getting my head pounded into the wall," Livvi replied, smiling with relief.

"It's just that I stopped to do a bit of training with Raenok on the way," James explained. "Otherwise I'd have been here sooner."

"Training?" Livvi said in surprise. "At a time like this?"

"Yeah." James nodded. "It was worth it though – Raenok learned a new move!"

"Really?" Livvi cried. "What move?"

"Guess you'll have to wait and see!" James winked at her. "Any ideas which way we should head now?"

"No." Livvi shook her head.

"Hang on!" James had a sudden realisation. "Josh has all the food, doesn't he?"

"That's right!" Livvi grinned, realising what he meant.

"Okay, Raenok, sniff them out!" James said.

Raenok nodded. He took a couple of deep breaths. "Maan!" he cried and took off down the tunnel.

"Looks like he's got something!" James grinned.

"We'd better get going then," Livvi said.


Elsewhere in the tunnels, the final member of the group and his unlikely companion had encountered a similar situation.

"Alright, Spearow, use Fury Attack!" Richard called.

The spearow flew towards the attacking machoke and proceeded to land four hits on its chest.

"Now dodge!" Richard shouted as the machoke attempted to land a Vital Throw.

The spearow flew back out of range of the attack.

"And now use Peck!" Richard called.

The spearow swooped in again, its beak glowing white. It hit the machoke in the centre of its chest and threw it back.

"Thanks for the help, Spearow!" Richard grinned as the spearow flew back over towards him. "We'll finish this up!" He pulled out Naro's poké ball. "Let's go!" he yelled, throwing the ball.

Naro cried out as he burst out of the ball.

"Okay, Naro, I need you to use Horn Attack!" Richard called.

Naro charged towards the machoke, who was trying to pull itself to its feet. Naro crashed into its stomach, sending it flying back. It landed with a mighty crash, uttering a weak and exhausted cry as it did.

"Looks like we're in the clear," Richard sighed in relief. "Naro, return."

Naro nodded as he was hit by the recall beam and withdrawn to the poké ball.

"Let's go, Spearow." Richard turned to the wild pokémon. "I think there's a larger tunnel ahead at the end of this one. Hopefully my friends will have found it."

The spearow perched itself on Richard's shoulder again as they set off. They were only walking for another minute or so before emerging into a much larger tunnel.

"Hello? Josh? Sara?" Richard yelled, turning left and starting to walk along. "James? Livvi?"

"Richard? Is that you?" He heard Josh shout back.

"Yeah!" he replied. "Is it still just you and Sara?"

"Yeah," Josh said sadly as Richard appeared in his torchlight. "We heard a loud crash – what happened?"

"That machoke hit the wall by accident and caused a cave-in," Richard replied. He sat down next to them.

"A cave-in!" Sara exclaimed. "Are the others alright?"

"I think so." Richard nodded. "We got split up by the collapse, but we all spoke."

"Just because they spoke doesn't mean they're not hurt!" Sara frowned.

"I think they would have said if they were hurt." Richard shrugged. "Anyway, how did you know to wait for me here?"

"The three passages from that crossroads all more or less lead back here," Sara explained.

"She's got a map of the passages," Josh added.

"Does that mean that James and Livvi will find their way back here?" Richard asked.

"Unless they're incapacitated, yes," Sara replied.

"Hold on a sec," said Josh.

"What?" Sara and Richard asked.

"What's the deal with that spearow?" he asked, pointing at Richard's shoulder.

"Oh I found it lost in the tunnels," Richard replied. "I'm helping it find the exit."

The spearow nodded.

"That's kind of you." Sara smiled.

"Well we were both in the same situation!" Richard laughed. "So I figured we could work together!"

The spearow nodded again.

"How long are we going to wait for… what the?!" Josh exclaimed as something leapt out of the darkness and pounced on his bag.

"I said find the food, not eat it, Raenok!" James shouted as he ran after the mankey.

"Quick! Stop him before he eats it all again!" Livvi yelled.

"James! Livvi!" Richard cried. "You're okay!"

"Hey, guys!" Livvi grinned as James recalled Raenok. "What are you all doing here?"

"Waiting for you," Josh replied.

"But how did you…" James began.

"We'll explain on the way to the pokémon centre." Sara interrupted him. "Shall we head off now that everyone's back?"

"Yeah." Richard nodded. Josh picked up his bag and helped Sara to her feet. James, upon seeing the spearow, had whipped out his Pokédex.

"Spearow, the tiny bird pokémon. Spearow has a very loud cry that can be heard over half a mile away. If its high, keening cry is heard echoing all around, it is a sign that they are warning each other of danger."

"I could have told you that," Richard sighed.

"So what's the deal with that spearow?" James asked.

"Well…"


Route 10, Kanto

1:21pm, 27th April 2005

"Thanks again for helping me," Sara said, smiling at James, Livvi, Richard and Josh.

"It was nothing," Livvi replied. "How's your ankle?"

"It's recovering," Sara sighed. "It should be alright by tomorrow morning."

"That's a relief," James said. They were sat in the trainers' lounge at the pokémon centre. Sara was sat on a sofa facing the window with the view of the route to Lavender Town spread out before them. She had her injured foot up on a stool. James and Richard were sat either side of her and Livvi and Josh were sat on a sofa opposite them.

"So why are you guys going to Lavender Town?" Sara asked.

"We're passing through on our way to Celadon City," Richard replied.

"I heard that there's a pokémon gym there," said James.

"You're collecting gym badges?" Sara exclaimed.

"Yeah." James nodded, a little startled by her outburst.

"I am too!" she cried, fishing out a badge case and showing it to them.

"Five badges," Josh murmured.

"How many do you guys have?" Sara asked, looking around at the four.

"Actually, I'm the only one collecting gym badges at the moment," James explained. "I've got three so far."

"So, Celadon will be your fourth?"

"Yeah." James nodded.

"Well take care – I had a bit of trouble with that gym," Sara warned him.

"Really?" James looked at her. "What kind of gym is it?" he asked urgently.

"They specialise in grass types," Sara replied. "Status attacks as well."

"At least it won't be brute force again, like the Vermilion gym." Livvi smiled reassuringly.

"I've got some planning to do," said James, breaking into a grin.

"Looks like our pokémon are all healed up," Josh said, noticing that the nurse was beckoning to them.

"We'll be on our way then," said Richard, standing up. "See you again, Sara."

"Yeah." Sara nodded as Livvi, James and Josh stood up as well." I hope we can battle at the league, James."

"So do I!" James grinned. "I won't go easy on you though."

"Hey! I should be the one to say that!" Sara retorted. "See you soon!"

The group walked back into the reception area and headed for the counter.

"All your pokémon are good to go!" The nurse smiled as they approached.

"Thank you so much!" Livvi beamed as she took back her poké balls. James and Josh did the same.

"Is Ayra going to be okay?" James asked.

"He'll be fine – just let him release spores for a bit to get them flowing and he'll be back to normal."

"That's a relief!"

"How're you doing, Spearow?" Richard asked.

The spearow was perched on the same tray as Richard's poké balls. It cried cheerfully, jumping up onto his shoulder.

"You seem to quite like it up there, don't you?" Richard laughed.

The spearow nodded.

"Stop beating around the bush and catch it already," said James. "It's obvious that it wants to come along with you!"

"You do?" Richard looked at the spearow.

It nodded.

"Then it's settled!" Richard grinned. He pulled out an empty poké ball and tapped it gently against the spearow's forehead. It was sucked into the ball. For a few seconds, a red light flashed on the cap. Finally, there was a burst of sparks to mark the capture.

"Any ideas for a nickname?" Livvi asked as they started walking towards the door.

"I was thinking that 'Spear' sounded good," Richard replied as the automatic door opened for them.

"Pretty unimaginative," Josh said.

"Easy to remember though!" Richard grinned.

"And it's your pokémon remember," James added. "Anyway, let's get moving."

"Yeah!" Livvi nodded. "We could easily get to Lavender Town today!"


Another new pokémon joins the team and James one more opponent to fear… err… I mean beat at the Kanto League. In the meantime, Raenok appears to have learnt a new move, though you'll have to wait to find out what it is.

On a side note, the poll will close when I upload the next chapter. I don't know how long that will be, but this is still your last call.

I think that's about everything. Hopefully I'll be able to get Chapter 29 out faster than this one.


James' Team:

Active:

Charka (Charmander): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, known moves are Scratch, Smokescreen, Ember and Metal Claw.

Kacha (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, known moves are Thunderbolt, Double Team, Slam and Thunder Wave.

Raenok (Mankey): male, impish, loves to eat, likes sour food, fighting type, Anger Point ability, known moves are ?, Leer, Low Kick and Brick Break.

Ayra (Paras): male, lax, loves to relax, likes sour food, bug-grass type, Dry Skin ability, known moves are Scratch, Stun Spore, Bullet Seed and Spore.

Saeloc (Meowth): female, rash, likes to thrash about, likes dry food, normal type, Technician ability, known moves are Fury Swipes, Growl, Bite and Icy Wind.

Livvi's Team:

Active:

Barru (Bulbasaur): male, timid, highly persistent, likes sweet food, grass-poison type, Overgrow ability, known moves are Tackle, Razor Leaf, Vine Whip and Leech Seed.

Dorru (Nidoran): female, quiet, mischievous, likes dry food, poison type, Rivalry ability, known moves are Tail Whip, Double Kick, Poison Sting and Bite.

Richard's Team:

Active:

Naro (Nidorino): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison type, Poison Point ability, known moves are Horn Attack, Peck, Poison Sting and Double Kick.

Sting (Beedrill): male, hardy, often dozes off, eats anything, bug-poison type, Swarm ability, known moves are Focus Energy, Poison Sting, Twineedle and String Shot.

Spear (Spearow): male, mild, likes to thrash about, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Keen Eye ability, known moves are Peck, Growl, Leer and Fury Attack.