Chapter 54 Journey to the Center of Mt. Moon
"It's about damn time you losers got out of the hospital."
"It's not my fault that someone broke the stitches on my arm BILL."
"Jeez Len, how was I supposed to know wheelchair chicken was a bad idea?"
"Well… it was fun, I'll give you that… but having Roy as my partner?"
"HEY, I did a damn good job and you know it!"
"Hahaha, you people. I'm just glad I bailed off last second."
"Yeah! Why'd you do that!? We were gonna win John!"
"Because I didn't want to die Bill."
"Well whatever. Let's get walking already, my ass is starting to hurt from sitting here for so long." Roy's suggestion leads the four to begin walking towards Mt. Moon again. They continued to stop and go along Route 3 because of collective laziness and catching up. Roy, being a new member, had many stories to tell, not only for entertainment but also to prove he was indeed Steven Stone's brother. Len and John believed him after a few hours of debating, on what his shoe size was, on photos that may or may not have been doctored, they even went as far as to ask for a birth certificate; But with Bill's endorsement, they gave up and accepted the fact.
"Ya know Roy, it was nice of Bill to give you that Dubious Disc so you could evolve your Porygon 2 whenever you wanted."
"Yeaahhhh but I'm not gonna do that any time soon, I figure I'll wait to evolve him, Len."
Antonio left the hospital a day earlier than the others, assured by [smart/computer geek] Bill that he would be fine in helping him complete the master ball. They weren't sure how long it would take, but when it comes down to it, Bill will send out a pokemon with a package for them. They each gave him a "clean" sock so the pokemon chosen can have each of their scents. When it's done one of them will get it.
A rustling in the bushes catches Len's attention. They were nearing the base of the mountain so he was hoping to see a certain Dark-type pokemon that lives in rough terrains- nope, it was an Aipom.
"Dammit!"
"What Len?"
"I want to find a Larvitar or something!"
Bill points to the sky, "How about one of those?" He's pointing at a small flock of Honchcrow and Murkrow above, which are clearly out of range.
"How am I supposed to catch one of those?"
John whips out a pokeball, "Like this." Typhlosion comes exploding out of its pokeball, firing a Fire Blast straight up into the middle of the flock, causing each one of the Dark/Flying-types to charge headlong into the four of them. Roy and Bill run ahead, away from the two being tortured, shouting something about this being their battle and how they're going to watch. Len flings a pokeball out, Sneasel making an entrance. It uses an Icy Wind attack, freezing a few of the Murkrow, but the Honchcrow are still attacking. Typhlosion uses an Eruption, knocking out a few more Murkrow, but the Honchcrow just won't give up. Sneasel hits one in the beak with a Metal Claw attack, forcing it to spit something out. It followed up with an Ice Punch, knocking it out. The two other Honchcrow flee in terror as its fellow Dark-type has betrayed them. Leaving behind several fainted Murkrow and one Honchcrow.
"So take your pick."
"You're an asshole John." Len tosses a ball at the Honchcrow, which now belongs to him. After picking up the ball and returning it to its bag, Len leaves some food for the Murkrow for when they wake up. "Hey, where's Sneasel?"
Sneasel ran off to find the thing that came out of Honchcrow's mouth landed. It was particularly shiny and he wanted to find it fast.
"Oh, there he is. What are you doing over there?" Sneasal tries its best to explain in its pokemonese that he was looking for something, but couldn't find it. Len lets it jabber then continue looking for another few minutes. It came back joyful as it had picked up a Razor Claw. "Nice dude! Now you can evolve soon!" The Sneasel smiled and jumped for joy at its pass towards evolution. Len returned it to its ball after another short while.
"That looked like fun."
"Thanks for abandoning us guys, it was a blast!" The sarcasm could be heard in Len's voice, giving Roy the opportunity to chuckle at his false anger. It didn't last long though because they eventually made it to the mouth of the cave at the foot of the mountain known as Mt. Moon.
"So who's goin in fir-"
"NOSE GOES!"
Everyone but Roy was able to hit their nose in time, forcing him to be the first into the dark and gloomy cave.
"Torchie." He tosses the ball up, and Torchie the Blaziken comes out calmly. "I'm gonna need some help. Light it up in there."
The two stand outside the entrance, where Blaziken then hurls fire balls towards the ceiling of the cave. It sustains a light, then fades away, revealing a dozen thousand Zubat inside.
"It shouldn't be too much of a problem, only-" as he takes a step inside a swarm of Zubat start attacking him and his Blaziken. Luckily he only stumbles back out of the entrance into daylight, where the Zubat retreat into the cave.
"Huh. That's odd….."
"OH YA THINK?!" Roy was angry because he certainly didn't expect a flurry of Zubat on top of him, like any other trainer that ventures into a dark cave.
"Does someone have a pokemon with flash?"
"Shouldn't your Porygon know that?" Bill suggested.
"Oh… crap… it does…. hahahaa….." Roy's awkward laugh was shrugged off as the Porygon 2 lit up the cave, forcing the Zubat inside to scurry about and bump into one another repeatedly because of their being startled. "Looks good to me from here guys! Let's get a move on!"
A few hours of exploring passes quickly, with no notable events taking place. The cave is still brightly lit thanks to Porygon 2 and his flash. The others have been attempting and failing to catch pokemon they've seen about the cave, Len was even close to catching a Sableye at one point. There were almost too many Dark-types wandering around, but the one he really wanted to find was super-rare and extremely unlikely to find. Especially considering Larvitar and Pupatar weren't native to Kanto.
"It doesn't hurt to try looking for one you know!"
"Yeah but it's very unlikely you'll actually find it." John, being the resident smart-guy of the group, informed Len of the almost 1% chance that a single Larvitar actually inhabits this cave, let alone a family of the evolutionary line.
"Yeah whatever, you think there'll be at least one, right Bill?" He was looking for some encouragement.
"I dunno, John knows a lot of stuff, and that stuff sounds totally legit." Len frowns.
"Eh, whatever. It's not like I need one or anything. I got my NEWLY EVOLVED HOUNDOOM with me!" His Houndoom, which was walking next to him, barked happily and enthusiastically.
"Hey… what's that?" Roy points over toward a few guys in black garb digging into a wall, muttering something about a specific fossil they need to find. To the left of them there were obvious signs of digging into the surface of the wall, and piles of debris.
"Maybe they're fossil hunters? You could find a lot of cool pokemon by looking for their fossils." John's insight leads Roy to believe they're friendly and would like some help.
"Hey, do you guys need some-"
"GET AWAY FROM HERE KID."
"Well then! I was just gonna offer some help!"
"TEAM ROCKET DOESN'T NEED ANY HELP FROM A SNOT-NOSED BRAT LIKE YOU." The mention of the devious organization forces the four trainers to get ready for a showdown.
"The hell is Team Rocket doing here?"
"None of your goddamn business, now get lost before you're sorry you stayed." The same guy kept replying to their questions. He stood up and turned to the trainers, now towering over even Bill. "Get lost NOW. Or we will end your fu-"
"Guy! We hit something!" Another Rocket member was talking about a hard metallic surface he made contact with while digging. They all began to dust it off and decided this was the fossil they were looking for. Len snickered, not only because of the irony in the fact that it wasn't a fossil, but also in the irony of John's previous comments. The "fossil" opened its eyes, and used Crunch on the nearest Rocket, nearly completely separating his shoulder from the rest of his body. It proceeded to use Rock Slide on the three Rockets, rendering them all unconscious.
"TOLD YOU THERE WERE PUPATAR HERE!" At the mention of its name, the evolved form of Larvitar began attacking the other four trainers, not knowing they weren't with Team Rocket. It began charging directly at them, but was turned away by a Sky Uppercut from Torchie, knocking it out instantly. "What did I tell you?"
"It's weak as hell, the Blaziken took it out in one shot."
"Double weakness to fighting Bill. And it doesn't matter, I'm catching me a Pupatar!" He drops an Ultraball on it to ensure the catch, and he is now the proud owner of a fainted Pupatar.
"Yeah, YOU'RE WELCOME LEN."
"Hey, hey, I never said I wouldn't thank you!" He walks past Roy, giving Torchie a hug instead of Roy.
"Thanks Torchie, couldn't have caught him without you!"
"Oh screw you."
"You love me."
"Yeah whatever." The unconscious Rockets are left behind to their devices. The group figured if they're only looking for a fossil then it's not life-threatening enough to turn them in to the authorities. Anyone can look for a fossil, really. But the real problem was they had already unearthed several different dome, and helix fossils, and there weren't known to be any others within Mt. Moon.
The rest of the journey through Mt. Moon doesn't take much longer, and they soon find themselves on the other side of Route 3. It wasn't dark yet, and the road to Pewter City wasn't exactly short, but the final push to town allowed them enough time to grab a bite to eat and find a small hotel near Viridian Forest. The four slept like logs, one having especially sweet dreams about his new acquisitions today.
