Heyllo folks! I know I said we'd get to Cerulean in this one, but what was supposed to be the intro to a different part got a mind of its own and turned into this. So, while not Cerulean and the big thing which will happen in the next chapter, this one will still probably cause some controversies which should be fun.

That ending of the previous chapter did rustle some jimmies in my PMs and reviews which always makes me smile. But still, I'm not going to change the way I write Mark since this was supposed to be his personality from the start so you either realize that and keep reading or don't and still keep reading. Either way, do keep reading.

Enjoy!

Mark's Current Team: Butterfree/Kraven, Bulbasaur/Ivy, Scyther/Ed, Geodude/Dwayne, Clefairy and Clefairy / (nickname depending on which one stays on the team)

The Sweet Allure of Darkness

"Sure thing, Professor. Have fun," Mark said and ended the call with Oak. He spent the last fifteen minutes going over what happened and how he came to possess seven super rare Pokemon out of the blue. And why he again forgot to use the Pokedex to document the entire event.

Mixing truth with leaving out important things like he usually did, Mark explained that Kraven spotted the place during his scouting and he decided to check it out. Of course, he luckily noticed a few Clefairy hiding away from him when he stumbled upon the cavern containing the huge Moon Stone so he had to give a shot to capturing some of them.

If Oak really suspected something, Benedict could check the boy's story with the Clefairy there and confirm it in general so he didn't need anything more complicated.

Mark spent the majority of the time explaining how the Fairy-types behaved and what the Moon Stone looked like after he gave the Professor full clearance to study the pink furry balls however he wished to. Even then, if he really wanted to push it, Oak could just pack his things and come and see for himself if he backtracked the origin of the Pokeball teleportation from one of the Clefairy so Mark saw no point in trying to keep the location secret.

A few minutes later, Kraven led him to a fairly flat clearing in the predominantly hilly area and he started preparing lunch for the group.

The duo had traveled for almost an hour from the Moon Stone cavern alone since Mark wanted to let his Pokemon rest, and because of his other reason.

Once he had everything prepared, the boy detached the sixth Pokeball from his belt and released the still sleeping leader of the group of Clefairy that battled them.

A quick force-feeding of a Chesto and a couple of Oran Berries later, the Fairy-type woke up and looked at the unfamiliar place in confusion. When he finally spotted the blond boy and the menacing Butterfree hovering over his shoulder, the Clefairy jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "Clefairy-Fairy-Clefairy!" while holding his arms up threateningly.

Mark showed his teeth at the display and said, "If you even think of waving those fingers around, I'll make you wish that I ended you back in that cavern," as he placed a hand on the pommel of his knife and Kraven released a low threatening, "Free."

The patches of skin under the Clefairy's eyes lost a bit of their rosy color, and a second later he lowered his arms down while his puffy brown ears drooped in concert.

And this Clefairy was a he; Mark checked all of his new captures when Oak called him. The first volunteer he got held that distinct honor too, while the other five of the Fairy-types didn't.

A dangerous smile reappeared on the blonde's face as he stated, "It must be fun to be a guy in such a female-dominated species, right? What with having a harem of five willing chicks at your disposal. Too bad you couldn't let one of them go and ruined my chance to get some more willing captures."

This shocked the Pokemon out of his cowed state as his head shot up and he looked around at their surroundings. When he didn't see anyone there, he turned to the boy and asked, "Clefairy-Fairy?"

Mark waved a hand in dismissal before he said, "Don't worry; they're in a safe place waiting for the conclusion of this conversation. What happens to them after… well, it depends on what you're willing to do to keep hold of the four that decided to stay by your side."

The fluffy pink ball looked at him with a shocked face while the boy fought hard to keep his villain persona going as a laugh tried to fight its way to the surface. He understood that he did something many would consider horrible, but he just couldn't take himself seriously with the way he had to act to convince the Pokemon.

Of course, the whole Clefairy harem idea came out of Mark's guess due to what happened and the gender ratio in the species. The Fairy Pokemon tended to stick together and had a strong bond with one another, so it only seemed natural that the females would have to share the males. Add to that the way his other male had no females with him probably due to his individualism and love for fighting when Clefairy preferred collectivists and gentle types, it only made sense.

Mark let the Clefairy's mind come up with all the possible horrors that could happen to the others from his group while he centered himself for a few seconds before he pasted on a friendly smile and said, "Here's what I'm offering. You can go live with the other four Clefairy in a place where you'll be taken care of and pampered much more than anything you could imagine in that rocky home of yours. All you need to do is convince the others not to make a fuss and breed with them if they're willing. When the first little Cleffa is born, I will evolve both you and its mother into a Clefable as a reward. Any other Clefairy that gives birth will receive the same thing."

The Pokemon looked pleasantly surprised at the offer which showed in color returning to his cheeks and his less rigid stance, but he still held some caution in his posture as he glanced at the eerily silent Kraven and asked, "Fairy-Clefairy-Clefairy?"

Mark narrowed his eyes in response before he said, "I don't know what you want, but here's what will happen if you don't agree to my terms. You will disappear from the lives of everyone that you've ever loved while I find someone else to take care of your remaining harem. Maybe that Clefairy that kicked your ass could do a better job of looking after them?"

Of course, Mark wouldn't just murder the Fairy Pokemon. He'd sell him for a ridiculous price to some rich family for their daughter. After all, pretty much every girl had a Clefairy doll to sleep with when they grew up, Marianne included, so the demand for the species never went down while the supply didn't exist.

As for breeding the other Clefairy, with some bribes to Benedict and the treatment that Oak gave them, they would relax with time and their instincts would take it from there if he threw a few compatible male Pokemon in with them and waited a little longer. He only decided to negotiate with the male Clefairy because he didn't want to go through the hassle of setting all of that up.

The Fairy-type looked stricken at Mark's last proclamation and stared off in space for a long while.

Almost a minute later, he made fists from his small three-fingered hands, looked up at the stern blond boy, and nodded while exclaiming, "Clefairy!"

A smile spread across Mark's face as he said, "That's great to hear. I hope to have a long and productive relationship with you, Clefairy. Now, grab some food and water and fill up, the next time you come out of your Pokeball, you'll get to see your girls again."

After he returned his new stud to his Pokeball, Mark released the rest of his team to have their late lunch and to get to know the two new possible team members better.

The two Clefairy looked a little confused at the new location but soon got over it as their trainer went over introducing everyone around and gave them something they never tasted before, proper Pokefood.

Mark read that Clefairy could supposedly sustain themselves on moonlight alone but, from the way they fell on the Normal-type food he had for Pokemon he still hadn't made specialized meals for, they much preferred to eat something more tangible.

Once everyone cleaned out their bowls, Mark clapped his hands and turned to the female Clefairy to ask, "Can you use the healing move you used previously on the team? I'd really like to see it."

Most of the team didn't get too damaged in the fight, and only Ed still had a few scrapes after the initial healing, but Mark wanted to see it from beginning to end to best know how it worked and how to utilize it.

The Clefairy returned an enthusiastic nod with a "Fairy!" to boot as a blue energy surrounded her while she took a quick look at every Pokemon in the clearing. When she had them all marked, she closed her eyes and exclaimed, "Clefairy!" before the blue energy turned turquoise and separated in smaller raindrop-like shapes which flew to the five other Pokemon.

They all let out noises of appreciation and looked refreshed when the drops of water energy entered their bodies. Especially the now fully recovered Scyther.

'Yep, no idea what that is. Does this world have moves that the games never included, or is this some new generation stuff that I don't know about? Then again, I did check all the known moves that Oak had info on and didn't find one I've never heard about. In fact, they didn't have some moves that I knew came from the later generations,' Mark thought with some concern.

Up 'till now, he felt confident in his encyclopedic knowledge of Pokemon, but if things like this existed, how could he feel sure that he properly raised his own teams. Or, even worse, what if an enemy used something he had no clue about in a critical moment and ruined everything.

He forcefully stopped his twitching leg which always started jumping when he felt anxious about something and exhaled his worries out. If things that he had no information on did occur, he'd do the best that he could, like everyone else.

Setting that issue aside for the moment, Mark returned his focus on the female Clefairy and said, "That was very impressive, thank you," he turned his gaze to the male one and asked, "Can you do that too?"

The energetic little fella shook his head without concern as he jumped into the air and started using Double Slap on the air like it owed him money.

Mark chuckled a little before he said, "All right, all right, I get your point. Calm down for a bit, for now, we'll get to checking out what moves you both can use in a couple of minutes."

When the Clefairy jumped back over to Mark's seated position, the boy's face turned serious as he continued, "While I do like both of you, I only have room in my team for one Clefairy. What that will mean for you, is that you're both on a probation period until I win my second badge in Cerulean City. Once I do, I will take my team on a long training trip to the north of Cerulean and will need the extra spots for other potential members."

Seeing that he had their full attention, he explained, "While we're here, in the wilderness, I will leave you both outside of your Pokeballs so you have the most amount of time possible to impress us. I will give you no commands other than suggestions on how I think you could improve your capabilities. It's up to your personal efforts to make yourself stand out to me and the rest of the team. All right?"

The male Clefairy gave an enthusiastic nod in return with a cheery, "Clefairy!" while the female had some nervousness around her dark eyes but she still added her own noise or understanding and returned his serious look.

Mark smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood and said, "There's no need to worry if you don't get chosen for my team, I have a pretty good idea for what to do then and I think you'll like it."

That statement didn't get the enthusiastic response his first declaration did, but he ignored it and went on with the demonstration of the moves. If they did look forward to the second-place reward, it would immediately put them in the losing position in his mind so he felt pleased that they wanted to win.

It turned out that they both knew pretty much all the early Clefairy moves, but the male one felt more comfortable with using the physical attacking ones, while the female one preferred either long-distance fighting or just using other moves and healing.

Their proclivities showed in their skill in using the moves. While the male Fairy-type had a stronger Pound and knew how to use Wake-Up Slap, the female's Disarming Voice moved faster and with more accuracy in addition to her unnamed healing move which Mark decided to name Healing Rain for now.

Once they settled everything, the group got back on the path towards the main entrance of Mount Moon.

They still had a few hours of daylight left and Mark wanted them to at least start their trek through the massive mountain since it takes more than half a day on average to cross it entirely. It would take them more because he wanted the Pokemon to train along the way and the Clefairy to have some extra time to show their prowess.

This time, luckily, they didn't have to drug the annoying poet scientist and entered the dark pathway undisturbed.

'What's wrong with these freaking Zubat? I know they're a meme, but this is ridiculous,' Mark thought as the male Clefairy Pounded his tenth Zubat into the dirt and the female healed him up.

They traveled through the Onix-made tunnels for the last three hours and had encountered over twenty of the flying rats. On the other hand, only a couple of Sandshrew, three Paras, and one Geodude chose to stand and fight when the light of Mark's lantern revealed them.

He remembered that the harsh lighting from Team Rocket's Moon Stone scheme made the Zubat aggressive in the anime, but he didn't expect such a bad reaction to a simple lantern passing by. Even then, all of the Pokemon that decided to stand and fight practically threw themselves straight at the group without any warning or strategy.

"Good job team, I think I see a widening of the tunnel in front of us, we should make that our camping spot for the night," Mark said when he noticed a room-sized cavern with a few stalagmites on the edges of the space slowly reveal itself as they moved away from the site of the latest battle and its fainted foe. The tunnel continued, but he decided to call it a day because he'd seen his team reactions turn sluggish over time even though they still defeated their enemies and got healed after.

A long time ago, Mount Moon used to belong to a group of Onix who carved its insides out in a warren of labyrinthine passages, but humans drove them out when they decided to connect their territories. Now, a group of League Ace trainers scours the entire mountain of strong Pokemon once a month and maintains the signposts signifying the correct way to the other side.

He proceeded to set up his tent and prepared diner while the group of Pokemon huddled around the lantern while talking in muffled Pokespeak. Unlike him, most of them didn't appreciate the quiet and dark place they found themselves in.

Mark had learned to enjoy the darkness over time in his past life. He still remembered using the light attachment of his Gameboy Color to stave off the night's shadowy monsters during his youth. However, as he grew up and truly realized that darkness just signified an absence of light, he started to appreciate the quiet moments of the late night when he knew that nothing would bother him in his peaceful solitude.

The Clefairy didn't mind the dark tunnels the most, but they still preferred moon-lit nights because they couldn't see much without a source of light. Kraven could see more than any of them, but he disliked the relatively low Zubat-infested ceilings and their stalactites while Ed could also see a bit in the dark, but he didn't like all the rock and earth they found themselves surrounded by. Ivy, Dwayne, and Mark couldn't see anything without light so most of the time they huddled closer to the lantern while they walked and left the fighting to the others.

Once everyone had their fill, he cleaned up the camp and got everyone ready for bed.

This mostly meant returning Ed to his Pokeball because he disliked the atmosphere of the tunnels, leaving Dwayne to bury himself in the ground in front of the tent, and squeezing in the now tight space with Kraven, Ivy, and the two Clefairy.

Still, the tent was made for two adult humans with some room to spare, so they somehow made it work as the Butterfree took his position at the entrance, while the three smaller Pokemon snuggled up beside him.

'For wild Pokemon, Clefairy smell surprisingly sweet,' Mark thought groggily as the tent filled with a nice aroma. Ever since he entered the tunnels, the scent of rock and dirt overwhelmed his nostrils so he enjoyed the change as it lulled him into a deep sleep.

*SCREEE!*

*Whoosh*

*Riiip*

*Scree, scree, scree…*

"FREE-Free!"

"Geodude!"

"Bulba-Bulbasaur!"

"Clefairy?!"

"Clefairy-Fairy!"

'Wha-what the fuck is going on?! Wake up! Get up! Move, you useless sack of shit!" Mark raged internally as his body and mind turned unusually sluggish. Ever since he could remember, he could wake up at the slightest provocation and be wide awake in the next second; this frustrating grogginess just didn't feel natural to him.

At that thought, he looked inward and detected a pressure at the back of his head quite like when he allowed himself to get hit by a Growl or Leer a bunch of times. It took him a couple of seconds of concentration to break it, but when he did, he immediately felt a heavy cloth covering his entire body while another squirming figure made things worse at the bottom of his feet.

He could hear a bunch of screeching and the shouts of his Pokemon intermixed with it as his first instinct screamed at him to struggle out of the bindings and join them. However, he squashed it like a bug and thought clearly for a second while his hands moved methodically in the dark and started removing the sleeping bag which held him in place at the moment.

'Think, you bastard, think! What happened? Constant attacks on the way, now attacked again without the lantern, everyone felt unusually sluggish by the end of the day including me, it's a Pokemon move which affects an area and it did me when I entered the tent, there was a nice smell before I passed out… Fuck me with a stick; Ivy's releasing Sweet Scent without realizing it. No wonder everyone huddled close to me along the way, they weren't trying to stick to the light, they tried to move closer to Ivy who walked by my side,' Mark's mind ran at furious speeds as his body worked in a quick and practiced fashion and started dragging what he now realized was the collapsed tent off of him.

The frightened call of, "Bulbasaur!" and the subsequent roars of anger from Dwayne and the Clefairy duo almost stopped his heart, but he forced himself to maintain his methodical approach and, a couple of seconds later, freed himself from the entangled coverings.

Even then, he could barely see with the help of Dwayne's Rock Polish-induced glowing and the fired off Disarming Voice from a Clefairy. The low visibility didn't stop him from seeing a Golbat holding Ivy by her bulb while two Zubat had her vines in their clutches a moment before they disappeared deeper into the darkness of the tunnel.

Every fiber in Mark's body screamed at him to charge after them, but he could see a swarm of Zubat covering their escape while his three Pokemon fought with everything they had to break through. The two Clefairy did their best, but they could only take one down at a time after a prolonged battle, but Dwayne shot off like a missile and used the curving sides of the cavernous tunnel to Rollout and took a bat out with every glowing pass of his madly spinning body.

Instead of listening to his instincts, Mark turned away from the battle and seized the still struggling form of his first partner while yelling, "Calm down, Kraven! I'll get you out but you need to stop moving."

Instantly, the Butterfree's curses and twitches stopped, allowing his trainer to find the edge of the tangled mess and unravel him out of his impromptu prison.

Before he could figure out what happened, Mark turned Kraven's small body towards the retreating swarm of Zubat and hissed, "They took Ivy. Your first and only concern is to rescue her. Go!"

The Butterfree didn't need more instructions; his eyes started glowing blue and, as he launched himself after the disappearing Pokemon, soft snaps started to ring out throughout the tunnel.

Mark turned away from the scene and called out, "Dwayne, come here! Clefairy, you two, too."

A second later, the glowing Geodude appeared at his side and Mark used the available light to sift through the wreckage of his tent.

While he did so, he sensed the approach of the Fairy Pokemon so he said, "Heal up while you have the time," and soon after, the glowing turquoise glow of the healing move added to the light and helped him spot his pants and the lantern next to them.

Mark grabbed the pants and pressed on the second Pokeball to disengage it from the lock before he released Ed out.

The Scyther looked at the darkness and the wreckage in confusion, but his trainer ignored it as he pointed a finger in the direction the swarm disappeared and commanded, "Zubat took Ivy, Kraven is in pursuit, follow and give him backup."

When the Mantis Pokemon gave him a bewildered look and a questioning, "Scyther?" Mark growled out, "Follow the bodies, now go!"

Ed realized the seriousness of the situation and flashed away into the tunnel with the glow of Quick Attack.

After he had that settled, Mark forced himself to turn on the lantern and find his clothes and Bag before he quickly put on his pants – with their Berry Pouch and knife attached – and shirt. Lastly, he stuffed his sockless feet into his shoes and slung the Bag over his shoulders before he turned to the remainder of his team and said, "Let's go."

It took them almost twenty minutes of light jogging, hopping, and arm-jumping, to reach a tunnel from which they could hear the sounds of combat. They took a bad turn once and had to backtrack and find the next few Zubat corpses, but they managed to find the right place.

As the screams of the bats increased in volume and the first sounds of, "Free!" and "Scyther-Scy!" reached their ears, Mark saw the light of his lantern spill out into a massive cavern with a six-meter high ceiling filled with stalactites while a bunch of stalagmites grew from the sides.

His eyes immediately zeroed in on the unmoving body of Ivy lying on the far side of the cavern, while a swarm of dozens of Zubat and several Golbat fought against an obviously wounded duo of Kraven and Ed who stood in her defense. Even then, Mark could see the unmoving bodies of a couple of dozen of the bat family laying strewn across the floor with either their heads twisted in the wrong direction or their bodies in pieces.

For a moment, he wondered why Kraven hadn't taken care of the group already since he knew it wouldn't take him more than a couple of Psybeams to take down even the strongest Golbat, but then he saw the Butterfree's eyes light up blue for a moment before his partner let out a painful, "Free," and shook his head while a group of Zubat flew in with shining wings and Dark-energy filled maws to attack him. Even then, he took out two of them but still suffered another backlash from an attempted Confusion and had to evade the rest.

Ed had the same problem, only he looked a lot more worn down and flew lower to the ground to protect Ivy from the occasional darting Zubat while the Butterfree took the brunt of the assault.

Mark processed everything in a couple of seconds before he shouted, "Kraven, Safeguard! Ed, stay there!" and added to the rest of his team, "Clefairy, heal them. Other Clefairy, Follow Me and Minimize then hide amongst the rocks on the side. Dwayne Smack them Down, Golbat first."

Even before the boy started giving his other orders, Kraven shouted, "Free!" and released soft bluish waves out of his body which covered the entire cavern in a radiant glow. At the same time, the constant high-pitched noise he felt ever since he started his pursuit disappeared and left him with a still muddled head, but it also began to clear out rapidly.

In the Butterfree's defense, he'd never faced such an assault of concentrated Supersonic waves and rarely used Safeguard after learning it because he usually never faced opponents who liked to inflict status problems so he didn't know how to counter it.

Once Mark finished giving his orders, he sprinted towards the downed Ivy, but the female Clefairy's turquoise raindrops shot past him and entered the three injured combatants before he made it half-way.

As yellow-glowing rocks started peppering the swarming bats, an even brighter energy lit up the cavern from his back. He turned just in time to see the male Clefairy holding his right hand in the air out of which a golden light shined and made all of the enemies turn towards him. A second later, a pink glow enveloped him and, like someone released air out of a balloon, he deflated down to half his size and dashed towards the jutting out stalagmites while shouting taunts with the swarm moving in his direction.

Mark reached the unmoving Ivy and the vigilant Ed a couple of seconds later and fell to his knees to check the Bulbasaur's condition.

Her body had bite-marks and scratches all over the place with lightly scabbed over wounds and a few drizzles of blood, but she still breathed shallowly.

He didn't even allow himself a sigh of relief as he brought his Bag around and pulled out one of his few Hyper Potions. When he arranged his healing supplies, he focused more on Potions of the regular and Super variety because he knew they'd have a much larger use early on, but now he didn't want to risk using anything else.

After he made sure he sprayed every wound and another round of turquoise water droplets entered Ivy, Mark felt safe enough to look around at the state of the rest of his Pokemon.

At some point, Kraven had taken the attention of the now greatly reduced swarm back onto himself while the two Clefairy huddled together at the side of the cavern with the female one trying to help the male move towards the rest of the group. He had a bunch of freshly bleeding scratches and bites over his body but seemed in good spirit as he kept shouting, "Clefairy!" up at the flying bats while threatening them with one arm.

Dwayne still sat at the entrance to the cavern and single-mindedly threw yellow-glowing rocks at the enemy. He already had a dozen down on the ground with either the obvious shine of Smack Down around them or a caved-in skull, but he kept at it all the same. The boy didn't know if the Pokemon understood that he cut off the Zubat's path of retreat, but he wouldn't put it past the cunning Rock-Ground-type.

Mark turned his gaze to the decently recovered Ed at his side and ordered, "Get rid of the grounded ones. No survivors."

The Scythers just nodded his head and flashed over to a clumsily walking Golbat with Quick Attack and used his spinning combo of Slash and Steel Wing. This time, he didn't stop until the Pokemon lay dying on the ground. Then, he moved on to the next one.

Mark fished out a Super Potion out of his Bag and carried Ivy over to the nearing Clefairy duo to use it on the wounded male. Once he did, he took out his first-aid kit and started cleaning the wounds on the two Pokemon while the rest of his team finished off the remaining Zubat and Golbat.

It took more than an hour for Ivy to wake up but, when she did, she found herself in Mark's arms while he relaxed his back on the rocky wall of the cavern with the rest of the team around them and kept an eye on her.

She let out a weak, "Saur," and licked his face before closing her eyes again and falling back to sleep.

Mark let out a sigh and decided to leave the lecture about her Sweet Scent for the morning as he tried to find a more comfortable spot to lean on and get some rest.

When they woke up next, he did give her that lecture and she looked properly chastised because, once she knew what to look for, she had no problem with stopping the scent from leaving her bulb.

With everyone properly rested, the team started following the bodies of the dead Zubat back towards his former camping spot, only to find them missing a couple of minutes after they left the large cavern.

Mark tried following the trail he thought he took last night but found himself in an unfamiliar tunnel with no reference on how he got there. Usually, he had no problems with navigating a forest or a city, but everything looked the same in this dark maze of Onix holes. Besides, last night he'd kept his focus on locating the dark bodies of the dead Zubat and not on the way they took to get there so he had no way of making sure which way he went.

'Who the fuck would eat a Zubat?! They're pure skin and bone with poisonous sinew connecting them! Freaking stupid Paras, no wonder the mushroom eats your brains!' he raged for a moment before he took hold of himself and thought about his next step.

With nothing else to guide him, he took out a compass from his Bag and started following whatever tunnel led him further east in the direction of Cerulean City.

When he saw the first light of the sun start to chase away the perpetual darkness of the Mount Moon tunnel system, Mark didn't act like his Pokemon and rush out into the blessed light with a joyous exclamation.

Instead, he muttered, "Two fucking days lost because of those winged rats," and stomped out of the cursed hole like he wanted to bring the mountain down behind him.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the painful light of the Sun, and he used them to consider that he probably shouldn't have murdered every Zubat and Golbat that came across their path during the trek through the mountain, but his Pokemon didn't seem to mind after what they went through with the unprovoked night attack and Ivy's abduction so he shrugged it off and let his frustration for the delay go with an exhale.

He had two new tents and sleeping bags to buy, he had to find if they had any Fairy-type meat in Cerulean City for his new team member, he had to pick the said Pokemon, and he had to beat a Gym Gauntlet against the three sisters. There couldn't be any room for other unimportant thoughts in his mind at the moment.

Mark opened his eyes and said, "OK, guys, you've had your fun, let's go," and started walking. Soon enough, his previously celebrating Pokemon joined him on the path leading out of the mountains.

Several hours later, he stood at a crossroads and stared at a sign that pointed out the direction of Cerulean City. He didn't really care about the sign itself, what he did care about was its blank lower right corner.

'Fucking hell, what did I do? I mean, I know they're both slightly different from the anime due to my influence, but Gary's still arrogant and he did have a falling out with Ash relatively recently. There's no way I managed to overtake in a car. Especially with the time I wasted in Mount Moon. Damn it! I have to fix this,' with that decision made, Mark took out a pen from his Bag and did his best to match what he remembered from the anime.

A couple of minutes of careful writing later, he gave the sign a satisfied grunt and followed its instructions towards Cerulean City while he ignored the strange looks some of his Pokemon sent him. They couldn't read, but they still tried to figure out why he did what he did with so much focus.

In the end, they attributed it to one of their trainer's peculiarities and followed after him, leaving the sign with its added text of, "Gary was here! Ash is a loser!" in their dust.

Soooo, what do you think?

Can't wait to see people disgusted with Mark's behavior towards the first Clefairy from this chapter. In his defense, they did cause their downfall since he'd have a bunch of more willing members of the species if they didn't interfere.

Did any of you figure out that Ivy was releasing Sweet Scent before the attack or not? I tried to be subtle about it but I did throw in a bunch of small clues in there for the eagle-eyed ones among you.

Any thoughts on the rescue mission and Mark's behavior during it? I tried to play it close to his character, but I wonder what you guys thought. Also, what did you think about the battle? Did I include too little or just enough? I thought it would be boring if I kept going on how Kraven kept bodying the Zubat over and over again and tried to make it a bit more chaotic with several things happening at the same time.

And finally, the flaps of those pesky butterfly wings are starting to happen and Mark is trying to keep things together while he still needs them to play out like in canon. I also wanted him to write the famous line because I thought it would be funny.

The next chapter should be one of those make it or break it ones so you have that to look forward to.

Cya!