Chris could immediately tell that something was distinctly different, here. This Team Rocket member was young, strong, and mean looking. Chris wasn't one to place stereotypes on people, it was nothing to do with his features or facial hair, but the look in his eyes. Chris could feel the loosely bridled aggression hidden behind those eyes, mirrored by the agitated chittering of his pokemon. This man wanted to hurt him.
Chris called out Lesle first, hoping the fluttering bug pokemon would be able to maybe paralyze the raticate. She appeared with a happy cry and stretch of her wings, then, taking in her surroundings and situation, calmly started a protective halo pattern around Chris.
"A bug, you gotta be kidding me," sneered the grunt, "Tear it apart, Chuck!" The large rat pokemon lunged, bounding forward before leaping at Lesle, still above Chris.
"Lesle, Confusion!" Chris hurriedly called, hoping Lesle would be able to intercept the raticate. Lesle reared back as Chris ducked, eyes beginning to shine purple before the raticate connected. She flew backwards, a large gash visible across her front. The raticate's fangs now glistened.
Lesle quickly used her wings to stabilize and the glow in her eyes surged as a scattering purple lights flashed about the raticate's head. The pokemon glanced about, puzzled for a moment, before flinching, reeling and reaching for its head as if gripped by a terrible headache.
Too nervous of her wound to allow her to continue, Chris called back Lesle and reached for Mickey's ball. The grunt wasn't going to let Chris switch for free, however.
"He's got a trick, Chuck, get ready to hit whatever he brings out!" The raticate shook its head to regain composure and coiled its hind legs to jump. Chris refused to hesitate, throwing Mickey's ball past the raticate, hoping to slow down its response just a little.
"Mickey, don't just stand there!" Chris pleaded.
"Hyper Fang!" The grunt screamed, and his raticate responded by whipping its tail to spin about and jump at the forming light. Mickey was in motion as soon as his form materialized, spinning on his foreleg and swinging his body out of the path of the charging pokemon. The raticate sailed by, but it dug its claws into the gravel and turned back just as quickly, lunging again.
"Horn Attack, Mickey, center mass!" Chris ordered. Mickey charged in, meeting the bigger pokemon fearlessly. At the last moment, Mickey ducked his head under the open maw of the rat pokemon before throwing his horn up into the creature's chest. The raticate squealed in pain, but didn't pause as it brought its head down to sink its fangs into Mickey's hind end.
Unwilling to let Mickey stay in longer with this powerful, well-trained pokemon, Chris called him back, pulling him directly from the raticate's jaws. He took just a moment to consider his next move, fingering his pokeballs without taking his eyes off his opponents. The raticate was definitely strong, dealing out heavy hits, but Lesle's mental assault combined with Mickey's power had clearly flagged its strength significantly. Its chest was heaving with exertion from the mere moments of conflict.
"Dara," Chris said, uncertainly, "I'm gonna need you here." And he tossed the pokeball forward, allowing Dara out into the cave. She appeared with a pleased trill, seemingly unaware of the raticate, already charging.
"Dodge it, Dara!" Chris commanded. With a lightweight flip, Dara rolled into the air, skipping above the raticate as it skated to a stop beneath, preparing to leap upwards in pursuit. "Now, Pound!"
As the raticate attacked, Dara met it in the middle. As the bigger creature's fangs seemed to fail to find purchase on Dara's smooth, spherical body, she attacked viciously. Her face scrunched into a frown and she began beating the raticate with audible smacks. It landed hard, barely finding its feet as Dara gracefully followed.
The Rocket grunt across the floor snarled angrily, "Quick Attack," he declared, and, with unnatural speed, his pokemon complied. Dara was sent flying with a small grunt as the raticate landed its hit squarely. Her lightweight body floated upward, over the fight, and Chris covered his ears.
"Dara," he said with finality, "Use Sing."
The cavern echoed with the pleasant, soothing melody. Even through the muffling of his palms, Chris could feel the haunting solo trying to rob him of his consciousness. Likewise, the raticate struggled to stay upright, only to fall in a heap, its exhausted body giving in to rest. The Team Rocket grunt had tried to mirror Chris' posture, but was exposed to the song before he could cover his ears, and it slowly robbed him of his consciousness.
With the last glimmer in his eyes, he glared at Chris, uttering quietly, "I'm gonna…" before succumbing to the effects of Dara's song.
Chris stood over the fallen man, feeling relief at the fortunate turn out. He returned the man's pokemon for him, and stood there a moment considering his options. As he stood idle a strange sensation overtook him. Wind against his skin. Chris looked down the tunnel the way he'd been headed, feeling another wisp of air brush past his cheek. Reasoning that the tunnel was nearly at its end, Chris turned back for the final time, he felt. He looked over the fallen grunt once more, ensured his relative safety, and headed out of the cave.
Erica smiled warmly as Chris walked through the doors. She quickly assessed his team's wounds and deemed them not too serious. Regardless, she took them back for some basic first aid and left Chris pondering the encounter.
He felt there was a certain truth to what the old Rocket grunt had said. The organization wasn't cohesive, not everyone was on the same page. His sample size was only three, so far, but he couldn't help but notice the glaring differences in their demeanor. The first man was calm, even in the face of defeat, while the second was hostile, but measured, and the last battle was simply brutal. Chris felt the first two had some manner of restraint, but that last man was aiming to kill, at least his pokemon if not Chris himself.
Before Chris could draw any conclusions, Erika returned with his pokemon. He gratefully accepted them back, and set about making dinner for everyone. Erika took notice.
"Planning to turn in early?" She asked, stepping out from behind the counter. "It's not that late, yet. You're either slowing down, or are about to push through the mountain. And, I can guess which." A wry smile overtook her weathered features. Chris smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, not too much more and I'll be on the other side into Route 4, on my way to Cerulean." Chris said calmly, preparing himself for more goodbyes. But, before he could begin, Erika slapped the table and started walking away.
"Good! You're too good to get stuck around here. Keep on moving forward, keep growing, make more friends, catch more pokemon, earn more badges. And come back to see me when little Elly is big enough to carry you." Before she returned behind the counter to serve a customer coming through the door, Erika turned to face Chris. A big grin stretched her cheeks. He wondered about it, but decided that was a pretty pleasant goodbye.
Erika could feel, for the first time in many years, the gentle joy at sending a trainer on. This wasn't a murderer being sent out to sow havoc and death in the world. This was a true Pokemon Trainer, focused on bringing out the best in his team and growing as strong as he could. And, he even had some loftier ideals that may even carry him the distance. Erika could see in this young man what she hadn't since the new laws had taken effect. And, it gave her hope. She was not sad to see him continue on.
Chris settled into a pleasant night's sleep, dreaming of wild pokemon and unseen worlds.
The next day dawned cold, but the weather mattered little once inside the shelter of the cave. Chris progressed steadily to where he fought the Team Rocket member with the raticate and found the chamber empty. No unconscious bodies, no hidden attackers. The air still flowed gently and sporadically.
Chris refused to let his guard down and progressed with caution. No one was idling about this deep in the cave. This far down, they either finished the voyage, or returned to the entrance. Regardless, with the Team Rocket presence so far, Chris refused to be caught off guard.
Just as he feared, when Chris rounded a corner he could clearly see a hunched form in dark clothing. Staying quiet, he crept closer. The man was certainly a Rocket grunt, the insignia glowing in the cave light, but he wasn't watching Chris. Instead, his attention was diverted away and up a slope. Chris could see a spot of brighter light and movement at the top of a small climb.
Chris took the opportunity to get the jump on the man, sneaking up to within several feet before making his presence known. He couldn't resist being a bit impish.
"What are we looking at?" Chris whispered. Toh is surprise, the man didn't jump.
"There's a man up there, he's been excavating the cavern for a bit, and I think he recently…" The voice was surprisingly young and smooth, though he trailed off at the end, and suddenly turned, finally jumping and crying out at Chris' proximity.
Without another word, the young Rocket grunt threw out a pokeball that erupted into a zubat. The battle went quickly, Chris got the feeling this guy wasn't much more experienced than he was. Even more so, he didn't seem to have much access to pokemon, only using a zubat and rattata.
"So, what were you doing here?" Chris asked, standing over the defeated grunt. Making him look up, Chris could see that he wasn't much older, maybe sixteen, though the lighting did make it difficult to discern detail. The young man tsked and averted his eyes.
"The dude up there probably found some fossils. Team Rocket will revive the fossils and sell the pokemon!" He stood up then and jabbed an accusing finger at Chris. "You. You've made me angry. I'll see you again. I'm the son of an Admin. Team Rocket will blacklist you!" And with that strange, vague threat, the young man ran off back down the tunnel. Chris wondered after him, but decided it was an empty threat and started climbing the incline.
From the bottom, Chris could tell the cavern opened above the step, but as he climbed he realized it opened then climbed yet again to a secondary step. On top of that, Chris could see a set of bright excavation lights illuminating a hunched man carefully sweeping at an indent in the rock. Looking about, Chris realized he had a full excavation site built here. There was a tent to one side, several foldable tables set up with several boxes and buckets of what seemed to be dirt. The nearest tables, however, had two large rocks.
Curiosity drew Chris towards them. The one on the left was almost perfectly smooth on top except for two semi-circular indents on one side. Chris felt it looked reminiscent of the top of a skull, though certainly too large. The other had a similarly bony experience, but it was of a spiral shape, rough and ridged all the way around.
"Hey, stop!" A sudden, forceful shout made Chris jump. He turned to see the once hunched man approaching. "I found those fossils! They're both mine!" He stomped over angrily, jabbing an accusing finger into Chris' chest. Chris immediately backed away, hands up in surrender. The man was filthy, stained white shirt, what once were nice black slacks, unkempt, overgrown hair, and oversized, extra thick glasses. Chris felt like he was looking at a hyper stereotype of a super nerd.
"Woah, I'm sorry, I was just passing through. Just curious about your rocks. Fossils." He clarified, staying defensive in the face of this rather intense, and dirty, man. The man, to his credit, gave Chris a once over and relaxed quickly.
"Sorry," he explained, "Been having a lot of people just walking up and asking for my fossils. Or trying to take them, wearing dark outfits and sneaking about…" He shook his head in disapproval. "Sorry, again, my name's Miguel." Miguel extended his hand.
Chris introduced himself and took another look around the excavation sight. It looked as though Miguel had been digging for quite some time. Random holes scattered the area, adjacent directly to piles of deposited rubble.
"Been digging for a while, Miguel?" Chris asked.
"Uh, yeah," Miguel laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "what's the date?" Chris filled him in, to which Miguel only laughed harder. "Well, in that case, I've been in here for about three weeks. You lose track of time when you don't have the sun. I've just been working till I'm tired." Miguel looked about curiously, admiring his work, before his eyes finally fell on the two fossils on his table.
"Hey," He said slowly, "I think it's about time I get outta here, at least for now, gotta report back to the museum. Do you want one of these fossils?" He grinned at Chris' incredulity and suspicion. "Not for nothing. I'll trade you for a battle. Haven't had a good one in a while. How about it?"
Chris wasn't certain if he'd even want one of the fossils, but he realized that he had been challenged to a battle and couldn't rightly refuse even if he wanted to. With a resigned sigh he called out Mickey.
"All right, let's get going, Flubs!" Miguel excitedly tossed his pokeball forward, and the light formed with an ill fitting plop that made Chris cringe. In the light's place, a purplish pokemon took shape, though what shape that was was uncertain to Chris, it seemed to be constantly moving, undulating.
"Be careful, Mickey, this thing looks… slippery." Chris said. Mickey simply spread his feet into the gravel and set his stance, a low rumbling growl emanating. "Let's get started. Horn Attack!" Mickey lowered his head and charged.
Miguel calmly waited, his pokemon gently swaying. Just as Mickey closed in, he pointed out firmly.
"Disable!" His pokemon finally moved, as Mickey connected, it seemed to bounce away, reverberating from blow, only to rebound back at Mickey. Chris instinctively felt the threat. Mickey was already moving as Chris opened his mouth.
"Mickey, retreat!" Chris shouted. Mickey sprang back just as Miguel's pokemon crashed forward like a wave. It collapsed into a puddle then reconfigured itself back into the shape of a rough mound with a face that it seemed to prefer. Chris wasn't sure what Disable would do, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to find out.
"It's too fast," Miguel called, "Just Pound it!"
"Don't give it the chance, Mickey, Horn Attack!" Mickey charged forward. The sludgy pokemon rose up, but that only made the target larger. Mickey hit with enough force to drive himself straight through the body of the other pokemon. Chris was appalled, terrified at what he saw, but slowly the shape congealed back into the form it had before. With a grunt, Miguel returned his pokemon, but nodded at the ball, satisfied.
"Not bad, Flubber, but let Round Boi take it from here." Miguel tossed a ball forward, and, in a flash of light, what seemed to be another pokeball appeared. Chris watched as it seemed to rotate in place, eventually revealing a set of eyes, though the line dividing almost seemed like a mouth.
"Second verse, same as the first, Horn Attack, Mickey!" Mickey pawed at the ground in preparation before starting a small arc to gain momentum.
"I don't think you're gonna be able to handle him, but we can set him up. Use Screech!" Miguel ordered. As Mickey charged in, the pokeball pokemon seemed to begin vibrating in place. Chris couldn't see anything else happening, but he felt as if his ears were beginning to itch. Mickey smacked the pokemon and it rolled away.
After the hit, Mickey was left in place. As the ringing in his ears faded, Chris could see a shudder run through Mickey and his muscles went slightly slack. Chris didn't have to wonder long at the effects.
"He's less prepared to take a hit now, do it again, Round Boi!" Miguel commanded again. The pokemon righted itself, eyes facing towards Mickey, and started vibrating once again as the ringing returned to Chris' ears. Mickey shuddered again, but stayed on his feet, so Chris ordered him into action.
"One last Horn Attack, Mickey, finish it!" Mickey lowered his head and fearlessly charged forward once more. The round pokemon kept vibrating in place, only stopping just before Mickey closed in for the hit. Chris called out one last reminder. "Restraint, Mickey!"
As Mickey met the pokemon, instead of driving his horn in, he lowered his head further and got underneath it. With a heave, Mickey sent the pokemon flying. It landed hard near Miguel who quickly nealed to check on the pokemon. Nodding with approval, he returned it. He reached for another pokeball. Chris also reached for his pokeballs, but decided to keep Mickey out just in case.
"Alright, one more," Miguel said, "We've got one chance, Shortstack, let's go!" And his pokeball erupted into another spherical pokemon, but this one hovered above the ground. Its body was a rich purple, with some sort of pattern below a goofy, aloof smile. Vents on its body periodically produced puffs of smoke. Chris pulled Gustavo's ball.
"Alright buddy, beat him with speed." Chris said as Gustavo took shape at his feet, growling with anticipation. "Head straight in, Quick Attack!" Gustavo started zig-zagging and moved in with almost invisible quickness. Miguel waited until Gustavo had covered more than half the distance before giving his order.
"We got one chance, Shortstack, Smog!" Miguel's pokemon seemed to inhale and swell, then heaved out a cloud of dark smoke. At the same moment, Gustavo hit it, causing the surge of smog to peak. The impact sent Miguel's pokemon spiralling backwards, but Gustavo stopped in his tracks and started coughing aggressively. Chris' Trainer's License chimed.
Chris was surprised to see two notifications had popped up, but the most recent caught his attention first. It read, 'Oh no! Your pokemon has been poisoned! Treat it quickly!'Chris looked at Gustavo again and saw him heaving air, coughing occasionally, but still standing strong.
"Let's finish this, Gustavo," Chris said, "No point clearing the poison just to get hit again. Quick Attack!" Gustavo growled and charged in. He made contact before Shortstack could compose himself, and the balloon pokemon wafted to the ground, deflated in defeat. Miguel returned his pokemon and approached Chris. Chris had already knelt down with Gustavo, administering an antidote.
"Congratulations," he said, "On the victory and your pokemon's evolution." Chris looked up at him curiously, then back down at Gustavo, who, while was having an easier time breathing, was not any different. A cursory look around revealed the truth, though.
Mickey, who had been resting behind Chris, had noticeably grown. He had doubled in size, his horn had grown noticeably, and those already massive ears had only expanded further. Gustavo was stable, so Chris took the opportunity to check on Mickey in the Pokedex. As Chris learned about his new Nidorino, Miguel kept talking.
"So, I'm figuring you don't have a fossil hunters license, right?" Chris confirmed. "Right, I figured, hence I offered you one for our fight. That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense on the surface, but if I had given you this fossil without this, then there would have been no real record of the exchange, and if anyone ever challenged you on it, you would have no license, and no proof you didn't steal it. Don't want to give you that trouble.
"But, because we battled for it, I can include it in your rewards and now there's an official record of your receiving it from somebody who has a license. Now, that's a lot of set up for me to make a request. I would like you to take one of these fossils, your choice which, and take it to the lab on Cinnabar Island."
Chris was listening, but it wasn't adding up to him. Too much of this felt up to chance and had lots of room for failure.
"Wait, so you've been just waiting here for a trainer to come along that you could battle and offer a fossil to?" Chris asked. Miguel shook his head.
"Nope, thought of it as soon as we started talking." Miguel grinned.
"Okay, but you weren't worried at all that I'd kill your pokemon, leaving you defenseless deep in Mt. Moon? Even if you are confident in your pokemon and your abilities as a trainer, there's always a chance I could get lucky." Chris pressed.
"Well, sure, but first off all my pokemon are trained to take a dive a bit early. I don't like losing pokemon any more than anyone else. To help that, all the pokemon you fought with are capable of taking a hit safely. And, finally, you really think I made it this far into Mt. Moon with nothing more than a pair of Poison-types and an Electric-type? No, I came equipped, and had you turned out to be malicious I would have crushed you with little difficulty." Miguel held out his wrist, showing the full six pokeballs clicked into his License.
"Wait, you're allowed to declare you lost before using all your pokemon?" Chris asked, more curious than skeptical, now. Miguel shrugged.
"Sure, why not? You didn't use all your pokemon, right? I'm not competitive enough to fight to my last pokemon. You didn't use all your pokemon, did you?" Chris realized the truth of that and nodded. Miguel continued. "You'd be surprised how often you may face a trainer who just chooses to not use all their pokemon against you. You have at least six pokemon, you really think all the random trainers you've battled with till now only had two or three? No, they more than likely saw how strong you are and chose to back out before risking any more of their pokemon." Chris, again, saw the sense in that.
"Alright, but why me? Why not just go to Cinnabar Island yourself to this lab?" Chris wondered.
"Simple," Miguel said, "all the fossils I bring out of here are property of the museum by terms of my license. But, if I, say, lose one to a trainer because I accidentally made an offhand comment about him winning one, well I'll receive a slap on the wrist, but there's nothing legally they can do about it. Besides, I'll still be bringing them on. They can't complain that much." Miguel grinned at his ingenuity.
With a sigh, Chris shrugged and nodded.
"Alright, fine, I'll take one of your fossils. I can't promise how long it'll take me to get there, but I'm planning on stopping back in to Pewter every once in a while, so I'll be sure to stop by and check in with you at the museum." Miguel grinned and seemed about to say something more, but then something behind Chris caught his attention and he frowned. As Chris began to turn, he heard the hard thud of impact on rock.
Chris turned to see Mickey using his new form to spear a large rock in the corner of the cavern. It almost seemed to be he was testing out his new capabilities. As Chris watched, Mickey reared back on his hind legs to drive his head forward again, carving a chunk of rock away. Impressed as he was, Chris was distracted by a strange, silvery glow emanating from the new wound in the stone.
"Hey," Miguel mumbled, "Hope you hadn't grown attached to that new form, yet." Confused, Chris watched as Mickey climbed up to grab whatever was glowing in his mouth. Then, the glow started to spread, enveloping and taking over Mickey's form. In the dim cave, Chris could see Mickey's outline start growing, rising up, producing more horns. When it finally began to fade, Mickey was bipedal and armored, and far meaner looking.
Mickey turned, dropping a now dark rock into his new hand and started marching over to Chris and Miguel. Now taller than he was, Chris found Mickey to be far more intimidating, but he very gently handed Chris the rock. Gustavo, seeming to have recovered, started sniffing at his now much larger friend.
"A moon stone, huh?" Miguel said, "Who knew there was one buried in the rock nearby. Must have missed it. Well, it's useless, now, drained dry to give you a mighty Nidoking. Though, he's more docile than others I have met. Either way, congratulations. Now, come pick your fossil."
Chris puzzled over the choice for a long time, finally getting so frustrated with making a decision that he dug into his pack and pulled out a flat package of trail biscuits. Looking at Miguel apologetically, he tossed the packet into the air.
"Label up, I'll take the spirally one, label down I'll take the smooth one." He said as he watched the biscuits flip through the air. When they finally landed, both he and Miguel peered over top to see they had landed.
"Alright," Miguel nodded, "That's the Dome Fossil, and I'll take the Helix Fossil! Great doing business with you, Chris, I hope to see you again, soon!" Miguel started packing his camp and putting away his tools. He carefully packed and packaged the fossils, giving the one he had labeled as the Dome Fossil to Chris. It was heavy, but Chris figured he'd only have to carry it to Cerulean City, so he strapped it to his bag and set out, waving one last goodbye to Miguel.
One more short tunnel, and Chris could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Stepping out into fresh sunshine, Chris surveyed the open expanse of rolling hills that led to the city in the distance. Feeling renewed vigor, Chris set off.