Heyllo folks! And with this chapter, we finish off Pewter City and move on towards Cerulean. I hope that the meme I chose for the title is still relevant since I couldn't come up with anything better that wouldn't also spoil the chapter.
In other news, I am a forgetful moron and have failed to remember to add a list of Mark's Pokemon and their names to chapters from the last chapter on since someone asked me to do so. I will fix that from here on now.
Enjoy!
Mark's Current Team: Butterfree/Kraven, Bulbasaur/Ivy, Scyther/Ed, Geodude/(you'll find out in this chapter)
To the Mt. Moon!
"Looks like he's not getting up any time soon," Mark said with a shake of his head while the new addition to the team lay passed out on the ground even after feeding him a couple of Oran Berries.
Kraven moved to hover closer to him and added a few apologetic, "Free-Free," but his partner waved them off and declared, "Doesn't matter, I'll just have to carry him back to the Pewter Pokemon Center."
He checked the Geodude's gender with his oft-forgotten Pokedex while he waited to see if the Berries would have any success in reviving it and found out his maleness.
All in all, he felt quite pleased with his new acquisition since the Rock Pokemon still had a pretty bumpy and grayish body which indicated his youth. Older Geodude tended to become smoother and more earth-toned the longer they lived due to all the chipping from various battles they liked to engage in and constant sleeping in the ground.
Mark shrugged his shoulders and picked up the ten kilo Pokemon into his arms. He didn't want to capture him since he would get transported to Oak and could get misplaced in the mix of all the other Geodude in the lab currently.
"Let's go," he ordered and moved towards Pewter City with his team.
Mark moved through the half-empty streets of the city with an outward calm but still kept his eyes alert. If anyone thought to look up, they would see a Butterfree flying right above him, keeping watch. He didn't want some overzealous citizen reporting him to the police for having two Pokemon out of their balls and end up on their radar due to something stupid like that.
Luckily, he arrived at the Pokemon Center without much more than a second glance at his fainted Geodude. People probably took him for some local bastard who got his ass whooped by the surrounding fauna.
Kraven joined him at the doors of the Center, and they both entered the almost empty lobby with little fanfare. A few trainers sat in the provided chairs and couches, most likely waiting for their Pokemon to finish healing, but the front desk had no one bothering the local Joy so he walked right up to her and placed Geodude on the provided tray for patients. Mark didn't know what they made them off, but he'd seen it take his partner's full weight without even bending so he felt comfortable with adding the Rock-Ground-type.
"Hello, Mark. Will you be turning this one in for the task or did you decide to keep it?" the nurse asked with her practiced smile.
The blond boy added Ivy and Ed's Pokeballs to the tray before signaling for Kraven to join them as he said, "I'm keeping this one, and I'll have others for you to count for the task in a little bit. For now, please take care of them. They had a busy day," and passed over his Trainer Card.
The Joy gave his statement a polite, "Of course, we always do," and started typing something on her computer. A couple of seconds later, she froze and her eyes shot up to meet Mark's unconcerned ones, then her gaze flickered to Kraven for a split second and he could have sworn he saw either anger or annoyance there, but the usual friendly look replaced it too fast for him to catch.
"I can see you've been busy today, please wait here," with that, she took up the tray with his Pokemon and brought it through the large sliding doors with a big red plus on them. They didn't really have a history with crosses and Christianity in this world, but they still somehow ended up with a red plus sign. Things like that made Mark have slight existential crises from time to time; however, they affected him less and less as time went on.
When the nurse returned, she kept her façade on, but her proclamation of, "You know, it's not really sporting towards other beginners to use your brother's Pokemon so you could hog all the rewards for yourself," made it plain how she felt about his actions.
Mark expected something like this when he decided to use Kraven's skills during his journey so he nonchalantly shrugged and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about; I only use my Pokemon in everything I do."
Before she could continue the conversation along that line, he asked, "Can you tell me where I can find the best butcher that deals with Rock-types in Pewter City?"
A small frown flickered across the Joy's forehead before she smoothed it over and spent the next few seconds typing something on her PC.
Soon enough, a look of realization passed her face and she looked up towards the boy across from her to ask, "Wouldn't it be better if you just left the Pokemon here with us? Or released them at least? You can't possibly eat all of that meat by yourself."
Without even considering it, Mark shook his head and answered, "Nah, I'm going to use them to make Pokefood for my new Geodude. They're pretty perfect for it, and it won't spoil that way."
The nurse looked confused by his explanation for a brief moment, before her mouth dropped open and she breathed out, "Oak." A second later she composed herself and muttered, "To think he would teach children that barbaric practice," as she reached for a piece of paper and a pen.
'Shit! Did I say something wrong? The Professor never hinted at his techniques being forbidden, but all the Mart food does only have trace amounts of Pokemon for enhanced taste. Another thing to add to the conspiracy notebook tonight," Mark thought while he fought for control over his facial muscles with his surprise.
It made sense to him that someone who took care of Pokemon for a living would want to stop him from killing them, but then he remembered the Mart issue and how most Pokemon that normal people took care of seemed underpowered to him when compared to what he experienced with Kraven and other wild specimens.
Humans did eat Pokemon regularly but, from what he knew, almost no one fed other Pokemon to their own because they had a ready supply of cheap food from the store. And since it kept them healthy and fed, people didn't care much about it. Only someone who wanted to build his team to the fullest, like him, would go so far as to hunt specific type-fitting Pokemon to turn them into gradual power boosts.
'Who would know about this? The older generation for sure, but they keep their mouth shut about a lot of things for some reason. Ancient families like Lance's without question, and he might spread it around to his chosen Elite Four members if they didn't know already. No wonder a rising star hadn't shown up in the younger generations of both Kanto and Johto when they didn't have all the pertinent information,' Mark's mind jumped from theory to theory, and only when Joy handed him the piece of paper with the requested address on it along with his Trainer Card did he return to the here and now to thank her and move away from the reception desk.
He sat down at a videophone and dialed the familiar number of Oak's Laboratory from memory while he sat there listening to the ringing through the handset. The robotic movement of his body showed how much he still felt disturbed by the supposed revelation.
"Mark? Hello? Can you hear me?" asked a feminine voice and snapped him fully out of it.
He gave her an apologetic smile and answered, "Sorry about that, Daisy. I had something on my mind," he then blinked and asked, "Wait, where's the Professor? He doesn't usually let others answer his phone." In fact, he would often empty the lab for certain callers.
The young woman gave him a sheepish smile as she explained, "Well, I recognized the Pewter City Pokemon Center number so I answered it for him since we expected your call. He's having an early dinner because we didn't have to spend a lot of time looking after the Pokemon you caught today," her face turned inquisitive before she questioned, "Is that why you're calling? Doing your first transfer for a task?"
Mark's smile turned strained when he thought about what awaited him but, luckily, he still had something to do prior to that torture so he answered, "No, at least not yet. I need to exchange a Pokemon I have with me for the Onix I caught today."
Daisy's face brightened as she exclaimed, "Oh, I can do that! Wait there for a minute. It's still pretty out of it since we didn't want to waste healing supplies on Pokemon you'd just trade away for money," she went off-screen and shouted, "We only checked them for Kraven's usual chemicals or any life-threatening wounds. Ah, here it is!"
She walked back into the camera's range with a Pokeball in hand and said, "All right, let's trade them over."
Mark complied and placed the first Geodude he caught today into the slot for transferring Pokemon and confirmed that he wanted to exchange with the one Daisy placed on her end.
A couple of white flashes later; he had the Onix's Pokeball on his belt and had thanked Daisy for her help while saying he'd return soon for the other ones.
With that, he left his team to the tender care of the Pokemon Center as he stepped out into the golden afternoon light that covered Pewter City and followed the instructions nurse Joy gave him.
Mark stood in front of a rock-lined large building which proclaimed that the people inside could break even the hardest Pokemon on its outside sign. The nurse's directions led him to the old part of Pewter where all buildings had most of their outsides covered in slabs of rock.
He entered and found himself in what looked like a normal modern store with shelves all around the walls holding numerous pieces of labeled rocks, while the middle had two large freezers half-filled with frozen meat and organs from Pokemon.
By the time he reached the counter on the far side of the room, a burly graying man came through the back door with an expectant look on his face and asked, "You selling or buying, kid?"
Mark blinked at the direct question and replied in kind, "Selling. Hello, the name's Mark," while he extended his hand out for a shake.
The wide older man chuckled as he enveloped the young boy's hand and said, "Fred's the name. At least someone still has the guts to fulfill our task. Now, what did you bag and how far is it? Or did you just capture it and bring it here?" he added once he spotted the four Pokeballs on Mark's belt.
A frown appeared on Mark's face and helped him from showing the pain that the firm handshake caused as he asked, "What task? I came here because I got a recommendation that this is the best Rock-type butcher shop in Pewter City."
He felt quite certain that he didn't see any kind of task that mentioned this place in his detailed perusal of the pasted papers on the Pokemon Center's wall both yesterday and this morning.
Fred's face copied the boy's frown as he stated, "Our task for capturing or killing Pokemon for eating. We pay the League good money for it each month. Don't tell me that pink bitch removed it again?!" he got a bit heated up as he went on and then shot Mark an apologetic, "Sorry," when he realized what he said at the end.
Mark ignored the curse as he suggested, "I think that the Gym Leader might have something to do with it since he does have the option to veto any task as he sees fit. From what I gathered there were no killing tasks allowed on the board due to him."
He didn't really care if Brock wanted to protect Pokemon or not, but as the Gym Leader of Pewter City, he had a responsibility to the citizens of its jurisdiction. The more he allowed the surrounding pests to survive, the more would breed and, with time, start invading human lands when they got pushed out of theirs.
Anyone with a brain knew not to enter some of the deeper parts of the forests and mountains in the region. There, older and more powerful Pokemon made their territories and pushed everything weaker and younger out towards the edges. If those edges became overcrowded and gain rulers too, the leftover hordes would have no other places but human towns and villages to spread.
Mark knew it happened in the past multiple times from his research in Oak's lab, but they didn't teach any of it in school and he found out from his brother that Michael didn't get lessons on it in higher education either.
"That little, good for nothing, useless, idiotic, brat! He's willing to destroy a business that existed as long as his Gym for what? Morons, the lot of them, I say! Ever since Flint married that harlot things have been going downhill in Pewter. No wonder he needed a break from everything," Fred's bushy mustache twitched with fury as he mumbled to himself and gripped the counter-top in a creaking squeeze.
The tirade also helped with centering Mark's thoughts so he jumped in with, "Well, I have an Onix and two Rhyhorn here, but I don't want money in return for them."
Fred's reddened face became confused as he asked, "If not money, what then?" but Mark could see he had the older man's interest with the Pokemon he mentioned. If he knew about this place earlier, he would have grabbed the Graveler too.
Mark detached the three Pokeballs from his belt and placed them on the counter while he explained, "I have to leave Pewter City early tomorrow morning. In return for collecting all the meat these Pokemon have for me, I will give you the rest of the materials for free."
Shells from Rock-type Pokemon had numerous uses and could fetch quite the price if removed with skill, as the displays on the shelves around the store showed. The organs and other bits, on the other hand, didn't reach much more than other foodstuffs due to few people really wanting to eat such an earthy meal. However, he did not doubt that people in Pewter knew how to make them into delicacies.
The older man's eyes narrowed before he declared, "That's quite a lot of work you want me and the boys to do and then give up the best part. I can't agree to anything less than 50% of the meat. It should be more than enough for whatever you need it for."
Mark shook his head and, after giving it a second's thought, he said, "I'm going to use it to make Pokefood to strengthen my Geodude. There's no way I can go any lower than 80% and expect it to last me for the amount of time I require it to."
Fred's brows rose into his graying hairline and he studied the blond boy in front of him for a long moment. When he found something he liked in the boy's eyes, he sighed and extended his arm out for another shake as he declared, "It's a deal, Mark."
The blond, on the other hand, cursed internally that the comment didn't give him additional clues to the new mystery he found, but he set it aside and reached out to confirm the agreement.
After another crushing handshake, Fred led the boy to the back storage area of the shop where four other men waited along with five Pokemon.
Mark studied the almost empty warehouse-like area for a second and realized the true desperation of these men. It looked most likely that the things they had exhibited in the front represented the majority of their stored-up goods for sale. He hoped that his contribution would help as much as it could and that Flint's soon return would at least correct some of the mistakes his son made.
"You can release them here, kid. Our Pokemon will do the rest," Fred explained as he pointed towards the empty floor of the storage while his workers gathered around him and started asking whispered questions.
The boy ignored them as he took up a Pokeball and found the small release button next to the main one. He held it for five seconds, after which it beeped three times, but after he kept on holding it for another ten seconds and two additional warnings, it opened and released the Onix in a rush of blue light instead of the usual red.
He read that it had something to do with removing the spatial protections the Pokeballs placed on the captured Pokemon and unregistering it from a trainer's account, but he didn't go too much into it after finding out how to do it.
The Onix barely managed to move its battered body a little when a greying Primeape materialized on its head and slammed a hand down onto its forehead with a loud resounding *Crack!*.
It wobbled in the air for a second before it crashed down onto the hardened floor in a dead heap.
Mark blinked once, then he turned his gaze to the widely grinning Fred and asked, "Was that Rock Smash or Brick Break?"
Then and there, he started to realize that Pokemon from older trainers he met previously had something to them that the current generation didn't have, and the Primeape just demonstrated that fact perfectly. For a split second, he wondered how Kraven would fare against it, but set it aside to listen to the reply to his question.
The faces of all five older men fell at his mild reaction, with one even grumbling, "Kids these days," but Fred managed to keep a satisfied smile on his face and answer, "Rock Smash, much better for breaking through Onix's hard shell. You can release the others now."
Mark only nodded at the reasonable explanation and proceeded to release the two Rhyhorn.
When they materialized in the blue light, the four Machoke of the other workers moved over to them in pairs. A light blue glow enveloped both pairs as one held the knocked-out Pokemon down, while the other grabbed its head and twisted until a loud *Snap!* echoed in the almost empty storage.
Fred saw Mark's questioning look come to him so he predicted the question and said, "They used Strength to build up power and finish it quickly. It's better to keep the scales intact as much as possible to get the best price."
The boy responded with an understanding nod before he declared, "That's neat," his eyes scanned the large room in one glance as he added, "I wanted to ask where I can dispose of these Pokeballs?"
Some of the workers chuckled at their boss' awkward expression while he answered, "Come with me, I'll show you to the recyclable trash," he turned his gaze to his employees and ordered, "Get to it! We need to have the meat removed by tomorrow morning, move it!"
Mark suppressed his chuckle as the Pokemon and men started scurrying around while he followed behind the burly owner.
When he returned to the Pokemon Center, Mark found Kraven hovering over a nervous-looking Geodude on the side of the reception desk. Two Pokeballs lay in a tray next to him, but the Rock Pokemon stayed perfectly still even when he spotted the impressive trainer and his eyes regained some hope.
The boy gave his first partner a nod of approval as he walked up to the reception desk and asked, "How's my team? Did something happen?"
Joy responded with a patient smile as she explained, "Your team had some minor bumps and bruises, but we took care of it. Geodude here became a little rowdy once he woke up in an unfamiliar place, but your brother's Butterfree sorted him out before he could do any actual harm."
Mark let the passive-aggressive remark go past him without care and asked with a serious expression, "Do I have to pay for any damages?"
The nurse shook her head immediately as she answered, "No need, nothing important was lost and your status covers for the few minor things that were."
He let out a sigh of relief and moved over to the tray. After attaching Ivy and Ed's balls to his belt, he fished out an empty one from his Bag and turned to the Geodude to say, "This will make you a full member of the team, don't resist," and touched him with the primed Pokeball.
True to his order, the ball didn't even shake once as it released its soft *ding* to indicate a successful capture.
Mark had a lot of things still to do today, so he quickly took out his strip with stickers for his Kanto team and attached the second one to the Geodude's Pokeball. He admired the Golem's picture for a moment before he gave Kraven another nod of thanks and turned to the nurse.
"I would like to start transferring the Pokemon I caught today for the prize money. Can you get that whole process started up while I go and get the first batch?" he asked and when he got a confirmation from the nurse, walked over to a videophone with the Butterfree hovering over his shoulder as usual.
The constant fear of misplacing one of his Pokemon made him transfer Ivy and the Geodude over to Oak's lab and keeping Ed with him since he didn't have his Pokeball marked with anything.
Due to this, he had to do the transfers in batches of five. With the process of signing the papers of release and using a machine to transfer ownership to Joy and the Pokemon Center, it took a bit over a minute per Pokemon, plus whatever time he needed to transfer the next batch while Joy registered the transfer in her own computer.
The entire hassle was a major reason why he and his brother agreed to stick to extermination tasks if possible. That way he only wasted his own time, not everyone else's. It also explained his earlier annoyed behavior when he learned he had to capture the Pokemon instead of just getting proof of their death. He might have gotten too used to doing everything that way and hated to bother others with his issues.
Almost two hours later, Mark returned Ivy and Geodude's Pokeballs to his belt and thanked Daisy for her help in the transfers.
All in all, at the price of 800P per Sandshrew, 500P per Geodude, 300P per Rattata, 1200P per Nidoran, and 1500P per Mankey, he received 43 100P for a day's work. It also confirmed his decision of only going after major infestations and ignoring the random Pokemon he saw along the way.
Although they would give him some additional cash, he didn't mind leaving them be as long as they didn't bother him and his team.
With all that set, he ate a ready meal from the regular trainer's cantina and went up to his room to feed his team and get to know their new member.
Once he released Ivy and Ed, he gave them a quick inspection to see that they had no more wounds visible, before he stated, "OK, I'm going to release Geodude out now. Try to be nice to him."
Receiving a reassuring "Bulbasaur," and an uncaring "Scyther," he detached the Rock Pokemon's ball from his belt and released him.
The Geodude appeared with a confident, "Geodude!" before he took a moment to orient himself and focused his gaze on his new trainer. It seemed like he didn't care about the rest of the team, even though he gave Kraven a wary look when he first materialized.
The team greeted him with their own cries but left the talking to their trainer so Mark squared his shoulders and said, "You're now part of our team, Geodude, so I have to explain a few rules to you. First, you can't evolve until I tell you that it's fine to do so. You will evolve, and to a Golem without a doubt, but I will use the learning speed of your current form to its full potential before I allow you to move on down the path. Is that understood?"
Geodude gave the gathered Pokemon an inquisitive look and, when Ivy said something to him with Kraven's backing, decided to give his full-body nod in acceptance.
Ed stood on the side and didn't really care about this issue. He knew he wouldn't get to evolve until his trainer got his hands on a special item so he felt no rush for it at the moment.
Mark felt pleased with the quick acceptance, so he continued in a more relaxed tone and declared, "Second, everyone in this team is nicknamed after a great person, and you will be no different," he paused to point at the various Pokemon as he named them, "If you don't know already, that terrifying Butterfree is Kraven, the small cutie is Ivy, and the grumpy Mantis is Ed. Feel free to get to know them since you'll be spending a lot of time together."
The Geodude looked mildly interested in a nickname, making Mark start his spiel once he felt sure that the rest had said their part when he named them, "As for you, there was once a man who his own people named 'The Rock' out of the love they had for his accomplishments. During his life, he fought in many battles, and he always strived to stand in front of his allies to both defend them and defeat his enemies in the fastest way possible. Like a rock in a river, he stood against the flood and would not be moved no matter how they battered him. Due to my desire for you to inherit this man's, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's, best qualities I hereby name you, Dwayne!"
Mark's dramatic finish looked to have suitably impressed Geodude, now Dwayne, as he raised his arms into the air and shouted, "Geodude-Dude!" in celebration. The other teammates soon followed up with their congratulations and they followed that up by settling down to eat and get to know each other better.
Honestly, Mark barely knew anything about The Rock other than a couple of barely remembered movies and several memes, but he did remember seeing him represent the Geodude evolutionary line in one of those stupid online 'which Pokemon would best fit a celebrity' posts and it stuck with him. After that, it didn't take a lot to piece together a few half-remembered things from the movies and his past life to make up a suitable story.
Feeling happy with his decisions and his new team member, Mark relaxed in his bed as he watched his partners talk to one another in Pokespeak.
The next morning, Mark rose early as usual and, after feeding his team and having breakfast, went down to check-out of the Pokemon Center.
Joy met him with a slightly skewed set to her usual smile as she asked after the usual greetings, "You wouldn't happen to know what occurred yesterday in three mountain passes that had a task assigned to them, would you?"
Mark kept his face completely blank as he questioned in turn, "No, what happened?"
The nurse's eyes flicked over to Kraven for a moment before she replied, "It looks like someone cleared out two of them, while the third caved in and blocked the pass entirely. The League would like to reward the person that did it if you somehow managed to remember seeing them."
Not even hesitating for a second, Mark said, "I'll keep that in mind, but I'm sure I never saw anyone like that," before she could try one more time he added, "Anyway, I'm here to sign out of your wonderful accommodation."
He did use their facilities to clean his stuff and have a nice rest in a decent bed for a couple of nights so he didn't hold any animosity for the Center as a building, only for some of the people running it.
The Joy struggled with what to do for a moment before she sighed and took his Trainer Card to sign him out.
Once he left the Pokemon Center, he visited the nearby Poke Mart to restock on some supplies and food for himself.
Fred's butcher shop lay on his way so it didn't take him too long to reach it and be greeted by a tired-looking but pleased burly mustached man.
"There's a bit over 80 kilos there, are you sure you can handle it?" the older man asked while giving the small boy and his Butterfree concerned looks.
Mark waved off the worrying as he slung his Bag over the counter and started stuffing the neatly packed slabs of meat into its depths. He'd have to stop early today to work on the meat so it wouldn't get spoiled, but it would keep for now.
Fred stared in silence throughout the packing before he grunted and said, "Huh, that's a new one. Haven't seen anyone except for curriers for those big companies have something like that. Even then, they had a satchel that went over one shoulder."
Mark smiled up at the wide-eyed man and explained, "Yeah, it's a new line of backpacks for trainers made by Silph Co. Not a lot of people have access to them yet, but I know a guy so I got one early."
He could have sworn he heard Fred mumble, "I'm getting too old," but he let it go and said, "Thanks once again for the fast and diligent work. If I'm ever in the neighborhood and need some butchering, I'll come straight to you."
The older man smiled at the compliment and they exchanged a few more pleasant words before the blond boy took his leave and started on his trek towards Mount Moon.
"All right, let's call it a day. Take a break everyone," Mark declared as he walked off the road towards a small wooden shelter placed there so people could hide from the weather. They could still keep going for a couple of hours without losing the light of day, but he had a bunch of meat to transform into Pokefood and didn't want to do it underneath the stars.
Ed landed in a tired huff and gave the innocently smiling Ivy a glare for a few seconds before he gave up and just lay down in the grass to rest.
In the morning, Mark had them practicing Slash and Razor Leaf together so they could inspire one another, and then, after lunch, he had Ed flying and dodging while Ivy tried her best to smack him out of the sky with everything she had. Her Razor Leaf still didn't have enough strength and speed to pose a threat to Ed, but in combination with her Vine Whip, it served to annoy him greatly.
The other team didn't seem to have many complaints as they rolled and flew in after their trainer while exchanging words. Unlike the still relaxed Butterfree, the Geodude had a tired but pleased look on his face.
For pretty much the entire day, Mark had Dwayne boost himself up with Rock Polish and launch Smack Down imbued rocks at the evading Butterfree while Kraven taught him how to draw attention from his enemies. If there ever existed a Pokemon who could enrage his enemies enough to attack him constantly without using the move Taunt, then the Butterfree qualified as that special being.
Mark had a pretty strong suspicion that Kraven just taught Dwayne the best way to curse out his opponents to attack him, but let it slide since it worked for his first partner.
Once he had their camp set up and had given the Pokemon their dinner, Mark started drawing out his tools for making Pokefood on a collapsible plastic table. It held his knife, his Berry Pouch, the spices he liked to use, a brown slab of Onix meat, and the contraption that ground all of that together while extracting most of the moisture out of it and producing usable pellets of food.
He'd just started slicing the meat into more manageable strips for the machine, when Kraven flew over to him and let out an inquisitive, "Free?"
Mark nodded his head in confirmation and said, "Yes, you should go now. Remember, it's not directly on the mountain but in a hill to the side with a large hole in the top. It shouldn't take you long to find it, but you can stay the night if you think it necessary to scout it out."
Kraven gave him a simple bob of the head in return and flew off eastwards towards Mount Moon.
The other members of the group looked after their departing team-mate and then turned their gazes towards the slowly grinding trainer. They'd heard the two discussing something during the day, but have never really understood the entire story with the focus they had to hold on their own training.
Mark gave them a reassuring smile before he explained, "Kraven's going to find us the place where the next member of the team gathers so look forwards to that for tomorrow."
He ignored the following excited chattering as he thought to himself, 'Let's hope that this time nothing tries to kill me while we're at it. I mean, what could cute pink balls of fur do other than somehow blow up a side of the mountain with a mass Metronome, right? Right!'
The next morning, the team had just started on their way when Ed spotted Kraven's nearing figure from the air and notified everyone else.
Soon enough, the Butterfree had landed in front of Mark and signaled that he spotted a human after he confirmed that he had located his original target. A couple of questions later, when Kraven confirmed that the human had no Pokemon with him and had a white coat, Mark groaned and looked up into the sky as if looking for answers.
'Screw it, I'm not suffering through Seymour's poems nor will I have him along with us to foil my attempted capture. A little Sleep Powder will do him no harm,' he concluded and refocused back on Kraven to say, "When we're close to him, fly ahead and hit him with a dose of green. We don't need him interfering in our plans."
The Butterfree responded with an uncaring nod and the group continued on their way.
Around noon, Mark decided to skip lunch in preparation for a possible battle and sent Kraven out to get rid of the poetic pest of Mt. Moon.
Several minutes later, they came across a man splayed asleep across the road near the entrance to the main tunnel of the mountain.
Mark couldn't see any of Seymour's camping gear nearby, so he walked up to him and grabbed him under his armpits. He then proceeded to drag the scruffy-looking man to the side of the road and dumped him in a bush before continuing off-road, according to Kraven's instructions, while he whistled innocently and his Pokemon gave him strange looks.
A few hours later, Mark stood in front of a dark cave entrance into a side of a hill. He gave his Pokemon a final look and said, "Don't do anything threatening unless I tell you so."
When he received the varied acquiescing noises from his team, he squared his shoulders and walked into the darkness.
It didn't take the group long before they started seeing light, and then they found themselves at the entrance to a circular room with a hollow roof in which a huge sparkling stone stood on a pedestal in the middle while smaller sparkling stones surrounded half of it.
As soon as they stepped foot into the room, Mark started hearing whispered noises leave the nooks and crannies from all around the room so he called out, "Hello," his lips quirked and he couldn't help himself from adding, "We come in peace."
The legends of Clefairy coming from space he read in this world and the partial confirmation he had from the anime always amused him. It didn't really matter one way or the other, and he had the exploration of space in the Pokemon universe somewhere deep down on his bucket list, but he liked to contemplate various theories on how they and other extraterrestrial Pokemon arrived on the planet from time to time.
When the whispering increased and a few pink heads peaked behind corners, Mark gestured to himself and his Pokemon while he explained, "My name is Mark, and these are my team members. I am a Pokemon trainer who likes to explore various mysterious places and meet awesome Pokemon to add them to my team."
The sounds suddenly quieted down at that proclamation, but he ignored it and continued his pitch, "A long time ago I heard about the Moon Stone and the Clefairy that live near it. From then on, I researched what they both do and decided that I want a Clefairy with me on my travels."
Several of the more adventures Clefairy poked their heads out and studied him while he spoke so he took it as a good sign and added, "I can offer anyone that joins me a life filled with adventure. We will see a bunch of amazing things, we'll fight many battles and, I'm sure, that sometimes you'll pine for the boring days of living in this mountain, but those slight discomforts will pale to the marvels we'll do together."
A few heads popped back behind cover when he mentioned fighting but came back to look at him as he continued his story so he decided to explain, "If you dislike fighting, you needn't worry. The main purpose I've sought out a Clefairy is because my Pokemon will need someone to take care of their injuries during our adventures, and I've heard you guys are some of the best in the business."
When more and more pink blobs with curly hair stepped out of cover and into the light he concluded, "In the end, whoever comes with me will get to evolve into a Clefable when I feel you're ready no matter what happens. And, one day, possibly get to visit the Moon or beyond."
This last promise raised a lot of noise in the cavern as probably the entire group came out of hiding and started clamoring their, "Clefairy-Clefairy" sing-song way of talking at him.
Of course, he would never get a reaction like this one from a bunch of humans to whom he just promised the literal Moon, however, a person could do that to inexperienced Pokemon and get taken seriously if they really meant what they said. Whether or not he'd accomplish anything he promised remained to be seen, but at least his words rang true in their ears and they felt excited by it.
When the dozens of Clefairy started to get too rowdy, well too rowdy for a bunch of pink furballs who shouted, "Clefairy!" and liked to jump around in gravity-defying leaps, Mark clapped his hands to stop the clamor before he asked, "So, do any of you want to join us? I don't mind taking more than one out there to show the world. I might not keep you in my team, but you'll be well taken care of."
Silence reclaimed the cavern for a moment as the Fairy-types exchanged looks between themselves. Some directly shook their heads and moved back towards the hidden passageways, while others bounced over to the sides clearly refusing but still interested in the outcome of the discussion.
Over a dozen remained in front of him, one a group of six who seemed to have fallen into some kind of argument if Mark caught the intonation of their "Fairy-Clefairy!" speech. Others still looked a bit skeptical, but he saw one standing out in front and returning Mark's gaze with one of excitement.
The boy smiled at it and asked, "You want to come with me?"
As the Clefairy started to nod its head and respond, a panicked shout of "Clefairy!" came out of the arguing group and another member of the species joined the first volunteer with waving hands and constant repetitions of its name.
Mark's smile widened as he added, "You too?" but it soon disappeared as the rest of the group of arguing Fairy Pokemon appeared behind the second potential team member and tried to drag it off to the side while it struggled and gazed at him with tearful eyes.
His shout of, "Hey, stop that!" seemed to scare the rest of the unsure group and they soon scattered to the sides to watch what would happen next.
The first volunteer joined in with a shout of, "Fairy-Clefairy!" of its own, but seemed to get disregarded by the group as they moved towards one of the sides of the cavern.
Mark decided to drop the nice guy act as he growled, "Ivy grab the Clefairy that wanted to join us and pull it here. Ed, Dwayne, stop the rest of the group from coming after it. Kraven, keep an eye on the audience. If they start wagging their fingers, Sleep Blast them away but don't kill them."
Before Mark had even finished his orders to the other Pokemon, Ivy's vines shot out with pinpoint accuracy and slapped the arms holding the struggling Clefairy. In the next second, she grabbed it and pulled it over to their side of the cavern.
At the same moment that the potential team member flew past them in the gentle vines of Ivy, Ed and Dwayne jumped forward and stood threateningly in front of the rest of the group.
The Scyther shot them a red-eyed Leer in preparation as the Geodude's body got surrounded by light-blue spark-like energy and he became more reflective as Rock Polish took over. Mark had repeated to them numerous times that they should use every moment of stillness they could before or during a battle to make it more favorable for their side and they both listened.
That Ed had taken a lot more convincing than Dwayne had no one surprised.
So far, everything went how Mark envisioned it since the quick reaction seemed to freeze the now group of five into indecisiveness and it looked like things wouldn't come to blows. Then his other potential recruit shouted, "Clefairy!" and jumped over the two posturing Pokemon straight among the startled five and smacked the apparent leader with a Pound to the face which it followed up with a quick-fire Double Slap.
Things went downhill from there as the other four Clefairy reacted as one and fired off a point-blank Disarming Voice at the one assaulting their glorious leader, sending the both of them flying off to the other side of the room in a spray of pink waves, not unlike when Ivy used Growl but these had impact force.
When the four turned towards the Scyther and Geodude, Mark knew they had to fight this one out so he ordered, "Ed, get in there and start using Steel Wing against them while distracting them with your Double Team. Dwayne, support him with Smack Down, we don't want those Fairies to start hopping over our heads. And no Magnitude!"
He remembered that Clefairy had a possible limited flight if they absorbed enough moonlight so he didn't want to deal with that. Also, he knew the possible ability that a Clefairy might have and didn't want both of his Pokemon to get afflicted with the infatuated status effect at the same time.
When he reached that thought, his eyes widened and he turned to see the still bundled up Clefairy in Ivy's grasp looking at everything with a sad expression while the Bulbasaur looked like she wanted to go and help but kept to her initial order.
'Phew, she stays innocent for another day,' Mark concluded and refocused on the restrained Fairy-type.
He quickly stepped up to it and stated, "If Ivy releases you, you have to promise not to get involved in this fight. I, in turn, promise that your friends won't get hurt past what we need to do to stop them from attacking us."
The Clefairy studied him for a long moment before it gave a solemn nod and Mark immediately told Ivy to release it.
When he returned his gaze to the battle, he saw one Clefairy lying down at Ed's feet, while his copies flew around the other three and he stared at one in particular with what Mark could only describe as a rictus smile while he debated whether to Slash it.
Two of the Clefairy mostly ignored the remaining Double Team copies and moved in close to Double Slap the stupid out of the Scyther's head. The last one had a distance duel with Dwayne which he seemed to have well in hand.
Mark quickly ordered Ivy, "Get rid of the one he's throwing those horrific smiles at," and turned to watch as her vines slapped the Clefairy away and started pounding on it while the Scyther looked after it with a longing gaze.
That broke the boy's last restraint as he shouted, "Ed, for fuck's sake, get your shit together! What's that Scyther lady of yours gonna say when you bring a Clefairy home?! Focus on the other one and take it down!"
A shiver ran down the Scyther's back at those words and he tore his gaze away from the beautiful ball of pink fur and focused them on the other target.
In his frustrated charging advance, he didn't realize that both his arm-blades and his wings shone with the glow of an attack, but Mark did and he commanded, "Ed, Slash and Steel wing on your right, then follow it up with your left!"
The Scyther knew instinctually what his trainer wanted him to do, so he passed straight through the frightened Fairy-type's Growl and Slashed it across its front before his wings followed up the movement and slammed into its wide-open belly. He allowed the momentum of the two attacks to guide him in a full spin as he gathered speed and turned to Slash at his opponent with a backhanded left swipe, only to swing at nothing but air as his target had already shot off from the strength of his previous attack and bounced off a wall, unconscious.
Ed stood staring and felt unsatisfied that he didn't get to finish his new combination attack, but then he remembered that other cute Clefairy still fought and turned his expectant eyes towards her.
There, he saw Ivy's Leech Seed drain the Fairy-type of her last few drops of energy and pass out. Immediately his attraction to her ended and he stood there staring down at his scythe-arms in pure disbelief at what happened to him.
Mark shook his head at Ed's crestfallen expression and turned to look at the last battle still going on in the cavern. On the far side from the larger fight, the two initial instigators jumped all over the place and provided Mark with the honor of watching his second slap-fight in the world of Pokemon.
To his surprise, in the last pass of the two combatants, one of their usually slightly white-glowing hands turned a light-reddish and nailed the opponent straight across the face.
'That's probably Wake-up Slap, but it shouldn't do much damage to Fairy-types. Looks like that one was on its last legs already,' he concluded as he watched the defeated Clefairy slam down to the rocky ground and the victorious one give it the dirtiest look Mark had yet seen from the species and spit out a "Clefairy," before it jumped happily over towards him.
Mark returned the happy smile the Fairy Pokemon gave him and asked, "You're the one that volunteered first, right?" when he got a nod in response he added, "Still want to come with me?"
The responding enthusiastic nodding and, "Fairy-Clefairy!" affirmations got interrupted by a soft blue glow which, when Mark turned to look at its source, spread across the room in the form of shining turquoise droplets of Water energy.
Mark stared at the improved state of his slightly panting Pokemon and the now twitching forms of their opponents while his brain screamed at him, 'No relevant data,' on a short-circuiting loop.
The unsure look the Clefairy that used the move shot him shook him out of his reverie and he ordered, "Kraven, Sleep Powder them. We don't need them interrupting us right now."
The Butterfree's, "Free!" confirmed his acquiescence to the order as he flew around the room and put the stirring enemies to sleep. Mark had heard a few warning noises that Kraven shot towards the now absent watchers during the fight but hadn't taken notice since nothing came of them.
Now, he had eyes only for the second Clefairy to offer to join him as he tried to reassure its furtive glances towards its former friends, "No need to worry. Kraven's only putting them to sleep. Past a few scrapes and bruises that the others here can no-doubt fix, they're perfectly fine."
At that moment, Ivy brought him the filled up Leach Seed which he passed over to the first Clefairy and said, "Eat this, it will make you feel better," and when it did, he turned to the second one to ask, "Do you still want to go and see the world with me? I could really use a skilled healer and the others here seem like they don't want you to grow past them. How about we show them how big of a mistake they made?"
The Clefairy gave its former friends one last look before it steeled its gaze and gave Mark a solemn nod and a "Clefairy!".
He couldn't suppress his joy at having found two potential new team-mates so he quickly pulled two Pokeballs out of his Bag and said, "Don't resist now," and touched the two willing Clefairy with them.
The balls shook a little, but in the end, they both confirmed the capture with a sweet *ding*.
Mark's smile lessened as he fished out another five Pokeballs and threw the first at the supposed leader of the group and then the other four at his supporters. He stored the leader on the last spot on his belt while the others got teleported back to Pallet Town.
While he didn't want the other two to think he'd used the opportunity to capture their unwilling friends, he wouldn't let a chance like this go. He knew that his other Pokemon didn't really care about what he did to them either way so he felt no problem with letting them see it.
After all, Clefairy had a massive profit potential and he wouldn't let that go to waste.
As his last act, he grabbed two of the fist-sized Moon Stone chunks and stored them in his Bag. He could make a bunch of smaller Moon Stones with them so he didn't need more at the time, and rarity brought up the price.
Mark gave the now empty cavern one last check before he looked over to his waiting Pokemon and said, "Let's get out of here and get to know our potential new members better."
A chorus of accepting noises answered him and they left the cavern and its massive Moon Stone in good spirits.
Soooo, what do you think?
Sketchy nurse Joy remains sketchy throughout the chapter. Let's hope that the next one improves Mark's opinion on the whole family line. But the Pokefood thing is a real issue that I will explore throughout the story.
What do you guys think about the whole going to the butcher's shop thing? I wanted to portray how he'll be gathering materials for his Pokemon while also showcasing the damage poor management can do to a place.
I know I ragged on Brock and his family a lot in the last few chapters, but you have to realize that a lot of people count on them to do right by Pewter and they just aren't. Also, his mom is a canonical hoe so don't come at me for that. In an official Pokemon book, it's said she brought over guys to the Gym to help her run it and implied that she banged/married them. And she left her family to 'find herself' which usually means jumping on a lot of cock. I mean, she did have ten kids so she is a well-known D lover. At least Flint has those unmistakable eyes so he knows the kids are his,
There are multiple reasons that Mark disagrees with leaving certain Pokemon alive, I just didn't want to write an essay up on why hunters thin out certain species so that they don't ruin the environment or endanger humans.
Now, what do you think about the nickname? One of you guys guessed it correctly, but I still find it funny. I mean, come on, he's The Rock!
I don't know if many of you even remember Seymour the Scientist from the Clefairy episode, but he seemed like a guy that hung around Mt. Moon for a while so I wrote him in as a joke due to how much he annoyed me when I rewatched it recently.
Did I surprise you guys with the random catching chapter after we just had one? It's kind of hard not to have it here when so many good Pokemon appear at the start of the show and it's better to add them to the team now so they could have more time to develop in both strength and character.
Which one of the Clefairy do you prefer Mark take? I mean, I know which he will and what he'll do with the second one and the other five he caught on the sly, but I want to know what you guys think. Also, nicknames?
Next chapter we're in Cerulean and... oh boy, it's gonna be an interesting one.
Cya!