Raziel and Draconix proceeded down the cave, with Spearow scouting ahead. The lights thankfully were still on, so Charmeleon and Gastly had been allowed to return in their Poké Ball and rest as much as they could. It would not heal them, but at least it would help with fatigue.

The steps of the Rocket members and the trainers that had followed them were clearly recognizable on the dusty and humid floor of the cave, and if that wasn't enough there was a trail of defeated Paras and Parasect to follow. Clearly, with the Pokémon spreading out, Team Rocket was able to defeat their pursuers. There were also various Rattata and Zubat, likely the Rocket's own Pokémon, defeated and left behind. Raziel felt his blood boil at the sight. "How can you just abandon a Pokémon that was ready to fight for you?" He asked himself. Then shook his head "It's probably better for them, now they can find an actual trainer or go back to the wild."

As he was pondering that, they came down to a split in the tunnel. One seemed to go further underground, while the other was the same one Raziel and Draconix had come from. The tracks were weird there, mixing together before splitting in both directions. There were also a few coming from the other way.

"They met up here with someone else and then split up?" Draconix tried to guess, "But I don't see what's the point. They already lost, didn't they?"

Raziel scratched his head "More importantly which way do we go? I can't tell shoes apart, much less in this mess."

Draconix looked down the tunnel, then to the normal road "If I was a betting man…"

"You want to go down there, don't you?"

"So what?" Draconix replied. Raziel in response pointed his finger to a sign, broken down, with 'Do not trespass' written in great letters. Draconix simply shrugged "If anything that makes it more likely, for Team Rocket."

Raziel sighed "Fine, let's go. I swear if they kill us, I'll haunt you."

"Can you even haunt another ghost?" Draconix asked, taking the first step down the descending tunnel.

"I assure you I will try my best." Raziel replied. The two begun to follow the tunnel. It was smaller than the main one, and quickly became very steep. The lights on the wall were also growing dimmer, which only made Raziel feel less at ease. It was one thing to like ghosts and haunted houses, another to enter an unknown cave. 'What am I doing…'

He was about to ask Draconix to turn around, when the tunnel started to grow in size again. The area seemed to be currently under construction, as proved by various rocks still undug and items like pickaxes and shovels lying around. More importantly, they could here talking ahead.

They snuck in, hiding behind various stalagmites and columns. They could see that whoever was working in the cave was likely collecting fossils, judging from the few lying around. As they moved on, they finally saw some people. Ten or so men and women were on the floor, tied, while various Rocket members were examining what appeared to be rocks.

The leader of the Rockets seemed to be a blonde haired girl, who was currently talking with an older man with glasses, tied in front of her. "Come now, this can be easy or hard. We just want that fossil and we will be on our way. We will even untie you all."

The man scoffed "I told you, we have nothing like that! It's all Kabuto or Omanyte! We already sent the Aerodactyl remains to the museum!"

She slapped him, and the two could hear the sound from there "Liar! I know you found one."

He gritted his teeth "I don't know what you are talking about."

She slapped him again "Give me the fossil and solve this. Can't you see it's the easy way out?"

The older man coughed "Listen, Brock will be here any second now. You would be better off…"

"Now don't try to lie, mister." She replied with a smirk "We both know Brock is too busy those days to even take a walk, let alone coming to Mount Moon for his research. It's that time of year where all the trainers from Cerulean reach Pewter, you think he has any time to visit you?"

The man now seemed worried "I told you, we don't have what you are looking for!"

"Doctor Fuji seemed to think otherwise."

Raziel's interest perked up. 'Uncle Fuji? What does he have to do with Team Rocket?'

Now the man was clearly worried. The young blonde kicked him in the sheen and laughed at his pained expression. "Fine then, keep your secrets. We will see if one of your friends knows more."

"Wait, don't…" He begun, but a brown-haired man a couple year older than Raziel and Draconix grabbed him and forced him down.

"Mondo, make sure he watches." She said. She picked up a younger researcher and forced her to kneel, grabbing her finger "Where is the fossil?"

"I don't know."

"Professor?" The blonde-haired asked, looking at the older man.

"You won't…" He begun, then there was a snap and the other researcher cried in pain, her finger bent unnaturally.

"Wrong answer. But don't worry, we have ninety fingers to go through."

Draconix was about to jump up, but Raziel stopped him "Wait, idiot!" He whispered, worried.

"Are you fucking with me right now? Can't you see that?!" He said back in a whisper.

"And have you noticed their Pokémon?" He asked, pointing up. A few Koffing were floating above the prisoners "Those are bombs, moron. If we do anything stupid, we are done, they'll explode and kill us."

"Would they really do that?" He asked, but as he said that, another cry of pain resounded in the cave. Raziel felt his blood boil, barely resisting the urge to jump up himself. Instead, he thought. "Where are Orville and the others?"

"Maybe they went the other way, or…" And then they heard another cry. They looked back up to see a second finger bent like the first, and the professor sighed "Fine, I'll tell you! Please…"

"Less speaking, more explaining."

"It's in the safe! We were going to bring it to Cinnabar next month."

The Rocket's leader smiled "Where is the safe?"

"Is it this one?" A new voice said from deeper in the cave. A man emerged, clutching a small red safe.

Raziel and Draconix both gasped seeing Orville holding it with a satisfied smile.

Domino was disappointed. Not angry of course – their main objective was in front of them – but disappointed. First of all, she had taken too long to find the safe on her own, and Ariana's grunt had beaten her to it. Second, because of the failure to steal some Pokémon from the camp next to the cave. She knew the trainers had some interesting ones, and she was curious to put her hands on some new merchandise. It wasn't the main mission, but still disappointing. 'Well, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.'

"Green Tauros, let him go and start working with the safe." She said. Mondo nodded, letting the professor free – well, free from his grip, he was still tied – and walked to the safe, examining it carefully.

"It's a pretty good model. Not a lot of people can break it open."

"Can you?"

"Too much work." He simply said, opening a Poké Ball. The Raticate that came out begun to immediately bite the safe's lock. After a while, with a crunch, the metal gave way, and the safe's door opened slowly, the lock divided from the rest of it. "For smaller safes, this is the best way." He said patting Raticate on the head "Good girl, tonight extra ration." He said. The Raticate scratched her nuzzle against Mondo's hand, and then got retrieved.

Domino absently let the female researcher go and looked inside. A few gold nuggets, documents she had no need of, and… "Bingo." She said satisfied, taking out a rock, about the size of her fist. The fossil was a skull. It looked like the skull of a Persian, but smaller and without the sharp teeth. Exactly as described.

"A Mew, excellently preserved." She said "Quite the result for the scientific community of Kanto, am I wrong? Pity it's going to disappear."

"This is the first fossil of a Mew we have found on this level of conservation, a treasure for future generations of paleontologists and our understanding of the origin of Pokémon! Before this the biggest piece was…"

"An eyebrow fossilized in a piece of amber. Yes, I am aware." Domino replied with a smile, "An eyebrow that was lost in an unfortunate accident when the laboratory caught fire."

"You didn't…" The scientists begun, but Domino glared at him.

"No, we didn't. That was a problem for us too. Anyway," She continued with a smile "We are done here."

The blond man nodded, gesturing to a few other Rocket. "Get the Koffing in position."

The Professor gasped "What?"

Domino stared at him, studying him "What do you mean?"

"We have specific orders. There can't be survivors ratting out about us taking the skull. They will die in an unfortunate incident and the safe and its content be lost forever. It's the logical thing to do." He said.

"Those are not Giovanni's order. We take the skull and go."

"Those are the orders I have. You are not my commander."

"Who…"

Then one of the other grunts called, a worried look on his face "Sir, the Koffing aren't moving."

Gastly smiled, as the last paralyzed Koffing stared at him filled with hatred. "You son of a…"

Gastly interrupted him with a chuckle "I'm the son of some ghost and yes, she might have been that. Hard to say. Now shut up, mr. Bomb."

Then he heard shouts from the humans below, and noticed Raziel gesturing to him to disappear before they figured out what was going on. He dutifully obeyed, slipping back into the rocks.

"Right, that stopped the Koffing for a bit, what now?" Asked Draconix.

"We save them." Raziel replied, explaining the rest of his plan.

"Will this actually work?" The brown-haired trainer asked.

"Only one way to know." The Ghost Trainer replied.

Draconix sighed "Know what, if it works, I'm letting you off the hook for that bet. This is enough of a pay back."

"And suddenly I have one more reason to pray this goes well." Raziel replied. He knew that was Draconix attempt at lifting his morale, and was just thankful for that.

Draconix sent Spearow forward. With all the Grunts busy trying to figure out what was wrong with the Koffing, no one noticed the Pokémon flying above them… until it snatched the skull of Mew and flew away.

There was a second of deafening silence, as Spearow disappeared with the skull in the tunnel, then both the girl and Orville shouted orders. The same order. "Get him!"

All the Rockets run off, Orville first. Raziel and Draconix both glared at him from their hiding spot, but remained sit. Only Mondo and Domino were left in the cave, aside from the prisoners and a few paralyzed Koffing. 'Please, please, please…'

And then the figure of a Mew appeared in the back of the cave. Both Domino and Mondo were startled, and the scientists were outright stupefied. The Pokémon was surrounded by sparks of fire, and appeared exactly identical to the descriptions. Long tail, pink body, large eyes, the head of a feline…

"Take it!" Domino shouted. The Mew chuckled and flew off, in the cave, the sparks disappearing, followed by the two. As soon as he was sure the two were gone, Draconix and Raziel jumped out from their hiding spot, while Charmeleon popped up from behind a rock near where the Mew had appeared.

"Who are you?" Asked the professor, as he begun cutting their ties, while Draconix and Charmeleon did the same to the other. Draconix also took out some bandages and a few sticks to help the wounded researcher.

"We are here to help. Quick, let's get out of here!" Raziel replied.

"But Mew…"

"There is no Mew. I showed Gastly the drawing on the Pokédex and the description, and he made the best impression he could with his illusions. The sparks were Charmeleon's Ember. We have only a minute or so before they realize what we did. Do you have any healing item?"

"Y-yes, there is a first aid kit for Pokémon back there. Ten or so potions, a few revitalizers…"

"Thanks, Arceus." Raziel said, while Draconix run to recover the object. "Do you have any Pokémon able to fight?"

"A few, they had us call them back threatening us with the Koffing, but they should have put them…"

"They are here!" Draconix shouted, pointing to a table covered in Poké Ball and fossils "They forgot to take them when they hurried after Spearow."

"That was yours too right?"

"His." Raziel replied, pointing to the other trainer "Now let's go, grab your Poké Ball and any item you need, we are going!"

The Professor nodded, grabbing three Poké Ball and a few fossils, followed by other researchers. He opened the safe to recover his documents. After a second, he picked up the gold nuggets too. Raziel shook his head but did not comment. Perhaps he needed those.

Charmeleon and Draconix came back, with the Pokémon now clearly healed. Then, Gastly appeared near them. Raziel cursed, before grabbing a potion and spraying him "Is there another exit?"

"No, that is the only one."

"Then get your Pokémon out, we need to break through those two before the others are back." Raziel said. The Professor nodded and a Grimer, a Koffing and a Magnemite left his Poké Ball. The Three Pokémon first launched themselves against the Paralyzed Koffing, methodically knocking them out.

"Good thinking." Raziel said.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…" He explained, as the Pokémon came back. Raziel nodded, and the twelve people moved on.

They were halfway through the tunnel, or so it seemed to Draconix, when they run into Domino and Mondo rushing back. "So it was you two!" The trainer shouted opening a Poké Ball. An Arbok shot out only to be intercepted by Grimer and Koffing.

Mondo opened his, and a Tauros rushed out, the bull facing Magnemite and the Charmeleon. Gastly darted forward as well, but his Hypnosis proved inefficient. It took a mere second to Raziel to figure out the bull was keeping himself awake by whipping his own body.

"There is no need to fight! We don't have your Skull, the Spearow took it. We will just leave!" Draconix shouted, keeping in mind to never point out it was his Spearow.

Domino laughed "Oh, you are leaving this place only dead! This mission is too important to let a few kids ruin it, and if before I was hesitant, now I'm totally killing you all." She opened a second Poké Ball and a Weezing came out, to find itself faced by a few Geodude other researchers sent out. Gastly joined them, while other Pokémon took his place facing the Tauros and the Persian the Rocket named Mondo sent out.

"Fine then, we will beat you and ship you to the police."

Domino laughed again. "Just try."

Spearow flew, as fast as he could. 'I miss my flock. Getting pecked by 999 doesn't sound so bad now.' He thought, flying in the cave. His saving grace was the cave was not large enough for Orville's Pidgeot to catch up to him. The Pidgey were annoying, but Spearow was better trained it seemed, as he was keeping his advantage.

He dodged a Gust, barely holding on the Skull. That thing was surprisingly easy to grip, but it was still quite heavy. If he hadn't trained so much, the Flying-Pokémon would have never been able to carry it for so long. 'Get to the entrance, drop it somewhere, flee. Get to the entrance, drop it somewhere, flee.' He repeated in his head, as another Gust was barely dodged. He kept going following the tunnel to the exit… and then he ended up in the same open area where Raziel and Draconix had set up camp. 'I went in the wrong direction!' He thought panicking, as the Pidgeot finally bursted toward him now that the cave was open. 'I'm dead…' He thought… and then he saw something, a shadow on the wall, or maybe someone hiding in the shadows.

"Eat this!" Shouted the figure, and Spearow saw something fly towards him. Spearow didn't even think, jumping in to eat the… 'Ah, a candy, so I'll taste better when Pidgeot eats m…' His thought was stopped by his body being engulfed by a white light.

Domino was angry. Not disappointed, but angry. She clutched her fist as Arbok and Weezing fought the various Pokémon in front of them, Mondo and his Pokémon doing the same, but now they were the ones at a disadvantage. Sure, Weezing and Arbok were hitting harder, but for one hit that went in on her side, something between two and too many went in on the other. 'If I can hold on enough for that guy to get me the Skull, maybe…'

Then her walkie-talkie called. She answered immediately "Black Tulip here. What is it?"

"It's gone." The voice on the other side replied.

"What?"

"The Spearow. It evolved and managed to outspeed Pidgeot in the tunnels, since it's fucking smaller. It got out and fuck if I know where it's gone. It also dropped the skull in the fucking forest, so good luck finding it."

Domino screamed, and threw the Walkie Talkie on the ground, watching it break "This isn't over. I'll remember you! You are dead!" She said, pointing to the two trainers. Then she grabbed the Smoke Bomb and threw it, recalling Arbok and Weezing before it exploded. Mondo did the same and the two ran.

She ran and ran, anger and sadness overtaking her. She had to run! From two kids years younger! This was her big mission! This was her chance to prove she was right! She would find a solution.

Finally, the two made it out of the tunnel, near the lake. The fight had subdued, she noticed. In fact, there didn't seem to be a single Rocket member left. Only then she noticed Mondo talking on his own walkie-talkie.

"What is it?" She asked.

The young man gulped, but answered anyway "It's… the team at the Pokémon Center. The Police is here. It's over, and they are arresting a bunch of our men while the other flee." He said "And there was this female trainer with an Ivysaur at the Trainer House. She has managed to rally the others behind her and they have beaten the grunts. I'm sorry Domino. The whole operation is over."

Domino cracked. She begun to cry. Her big chance ruined by a bunch of upstart trainers. Ruined by maggots and idiots… And by her own failure. She should have listened to Ariana. She should have waited one more day. If she did, the Police wouldn't have been there.

In that moment, someone walked to them. It was the blonde haired one. "We are leaving." He said, pointing to Pidgeot "Jump on, he can carry you two."

"What about the others?" Mondo asked.

"They are trailing down the mountain, have been captured, or are hiding somewhere. Hard to say, this whole thing was a mess in the second half. Now let's go. The commanding officer getting captured is hardly acceptable." He said.

"Oh, now I'm the commander?" She asked, angrily staring at him. He was a whole head taller than her and Mondo, but she still did not blink when he moved closer.

"Not mine, but you were leading the whole thing. Now it's your responsibility to pay for the failure."

Domino sighed "Fine, let's go. Get us out of this damn mountain." She said, jumping on the Pidgeot, followed by Mondo. And the Pokémon took flight, followed by the other trainer on a second one.