The mountain range surrounding the Kanto region, cutting it off from the rest of the continent to the north and west, was fairly uniform in terms of its harsh, rugged terrain. It provided a fairly effective barrier to any kind of land travel, but nowhere was it more inconveniently impassible than Mt. Moon. The mountain jutted out like a thorn into the otherwise habitable area of the region, blocking most direct traffic from Pewter City to Cerulean City. For the more adventurous travellers however, such as Pokémon trainers, there was a way through.
All throughout the mountain, weaving in and out seemingly at random, was a vast network of interconnected caves and tunnels. With a good map, or a lot of careful note-taking and back-tracking, it was possible to get from one side of the mountain to the other in half the time it would take to go around.
Of course, only trainers usually made use of this route due to the high concentration of Pokémon who made their home in the mostly untouched natural sanctuary the mountains provided. High concentrations of Geodude, Zubat, Sandshrew, and their respective evolutions, made the path a rather treacherous one for the unwary adventurer. Not least of all due to frequent rockslides and the occasional cave-ins caused by those Pokémon.
Due to the dangers, even most trainers steered clear of the mountain, typically only exploring as far as they had to in order to find a few Moon Stones.
"Sounds like the perfect place for Team Rocket to hide," Jack thought out loud as he stared up at the rather rocky, ominous-looking face of the mountain in front of him. Katia, who was following close behind him, shuddered slightly just from the thought of what might be waiting for them inside, but she didn't voice that concern.
"I believe we have some experience with evil bases underneath mountains…" Nova muttered as she looked up at the mountain. It was easily the biggest mountain she had ever seen. Razgriz simply grunted in agreement.
"True," Jack replied before tossing a rueful smirk at Razgriz. "Try not to disintegrate this one please, at least not until I make sure my team are out of it."
"I didn't disintegrate it, I simply made a small spatial rift that mimicked a blackhole," Razgriz retorted with his arms crossed over his chest.
Jack waved his hand dismissively. "Sorry for not being sufficiently general in my description. Would you rather I say you made it go 'poof'?"
"Fair enough," Razgriz replied with a shrug. Nova tried and failed to hold back a snort of laughter.
Jack then sighed, forcing himself to relax. His companions noticed that his eyes had yet to leave the mountain even for a moment, and they could feel that he was struggling to keep his aura from getting too turbulent. It may only have been a rumor from a man he didn't even know, but even the thought that he might be close to finally seeing his team again had Jack on edge. The uncertainty of it all was likely the only thing keeping him from rushing in blindly.
He closed his eyes for a moment, casting his mind into the mountain as far as he could and searching for familiar auras. Unfortunately, thousands of tons of solid rock dampened and blurred his senses, and the high concentration of wild pokemon packed into the caves made it almost impossible to pick out any one signature.
"Well," he stated flatly, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have to actually use my eyes in there…"
"I believe our Saldaran friends called it the Mark 1 Eyeball," Razgriz said as he thought back to some of the sayings he learned from Eric.
"Primitive, but effective," Jack commented, before glancing down at Katia and smiling a little. "Still, at least we have a candle."
The Vulpix swished her tails a little and huffed in faux indignation. "I'm not your personal light source!"
"I mean, can you see in the dark?" Nova asked with a toothy grin.
She blushed a little in embarrassment, but turned up her nose haughtily. "I d-didn't say I wouldn't do it! I'm just saying a little appreciation would be nice."
Jack crouched down to pet her on the head, chuckling quietly. "Thanks Katia, I don't know what we'd do without you."
The Vulpix's tails wagged eagerly as she tried, and failed, to hide how much she enjoyed the petting and praise. "W-well, of course! Just make sure you stay close to me, alright? Not that I'm scared, I just don't want you getting lost."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever you say." He then got up, taking another look around at the rocky terrain and quickly locating a likely path down into the mountain.
The three Pokémon followed him, and together they made their way into what was really little more than a particularly large crack in the rocky face of the mountain. It was barely wide enough for them to walk in single file, and Jack found himself having to take off his pack and slip sideways through a few particularly narrow spots. Fortunately the path widened soon enough, allowing them a clearer look at the path ahead.
Precious little light filtered through the tunnel behind them, and it didn't penetrate much farther leaving them staring into pure, inky darkness. Razgriz and Nova each held one of their paws out before aura flashed into existence around them. A purple glow surrounded Razgriz's paw while a blue one surrounded Nova's. It gave off enough light for them to see comfortably as they peered down the tunnel.
Jack blinked and stared down into the tunnel, but his eyes weren't nearly as sensitive as Nova or Razgriz's and their lights did little to help him see the path, much less anything in the path. He sighed and looked down at Katia. "Looks like we'll need your help after all."
Katia nodded, staring down the tunnel with no small amount of trepidation. Her fluffy tails swished and glowed with ghostly blue flames as she used Will-O-Wisp. The glowing orbs of fire floated forward into the tunnel, casting a cool but fairly bright light across the rough stone walls.
Jack nodded. "That's great Katia, can you keep it up?"
Katia smiled proudly and nodded. "Yes, for as long as you need!"
She started to walk deeper into the tunnel, the floating lights sweeping the area and illuminating everything in a blueish glow. Suddenly however, a streak of blue and purple flew screeching out of the darkness, practically giving Katia a haircut on its way past. The Vulpix let out a yelp of terror as the apparition vanished through the entrance of the cave, leaving Jack a little startled.
Jack let out a sigh of relief. "It was just a Zubat…"
"Perhaps I should give a warning next time?" Razgriz said with a toothy grin.
Jack snorted. "I take it you enjoyed that?" he commented, raising an eyebrow.
"Messing with humans is one of my favorite hobbies," he replied with a short chuckle.
Jack shook his head, then blinked as he noticed Katia was still shaking. He furrowed his brow. "You okay Katia?"
Katia let out a rather un-ladylike squeak and jumped a little, looking up at Jack with wide eyes and blushing from embarrassment. Jack couldn't help chuckling a little, to which the Vulpix just huffed. "I w-wasn't scared…!"
Jack paused for a moment, then grinned slightly. "No, of course not. So, I guess that means there's no need for you to ride on my shoulder then, huh?"
Katia blinked, and Jack could practically see her inner conflict. After a moment however, she whimpered quietly in defeat before jumping up onto Jack's shoulder and perching there. Jack chuckled and petted her head reassuringly.
"Don't worry Katia, I'll keep you safe," he told her, to which she just nodded and nuzzled slightly into his hand.
Jack then took a deep breath before continuing on. Katia's Will-O-Wisps provided plenty of light for the three of them, and she sent one far enough ahead that they had plenty of warning the next time a Pokémon decided to jump out at them. These Pokémon were quickly and effortlessly sent packing, and the encounters soon became rather routine.
Jack kept trying to scan the tunnel ahead, with a certain amount of success, but his auric vision didn't extend much further than his normal vision, and was a lot less reliable. He could tell when something was ahead, but not what it was. It was a very strange and disconcerting feeling, he felt unusually exposed.
The tunnel eventually branched off into different paths, sometimes other tunnels would split off or even just cross with the one they were following. Sometimes the tunnels would even lead them back aboveground, forcing them to find a new tunnel to follow. It truly was almost like a maze, but fortunately they weren't the first ones to come down here. Other explorers had over time left numerous marks on the walls with chalk, paint, and chisels, clearly indicating the correct path through the caves.
Then, Jack spotted something that drew his attention like a magnet. There, near the bottom of the tunnel wall where most people wouldn't pay any attention to it unless they were looking for it, was a tiny painted letter R with an arrow next to it.
Jack glanced over at Nova and Razgriz to see if they'd noticed it too. The two Pokémon were glancing down at it as well, and Razgriz dropped to one knee to get a closer look.
"I'd say that Team Rocket does indeed use these tunnels," he stated as he came back up to his feet and looked down the indicated tunnel, which led off in a completely different direction from the obviously more well travelled 'main' path.
Katia glanced at Jack as well, and the boy nodded. "Alright. Katia, dim the lights. Nova, Razgriz, I'm going to be counting on you two. We don't want to give them too much warning that we're coming."
They both nodded their heads and Nova extinguished her auric light, leaving only the dim purple glow from Razgriz. The white Lucario closed his eyes, trying his best to see down the dark path with his aura vision, yet the amount of dense rock made it difficult but not impossible. It became apparent as they traveled further down the path that there were some… unnatural additions along the way.
"Some parts of the tunnel have been formed purposely…" He said, stopping for a moment as he opened his eyes once again.
"What do you mean?" Nova inquired as she tilted her head a little.
"As in someone changed parts of the walls, ceiling, and floor," Razgriz replied as he ran his paw over one of the sharp corners.
Jack furrowed his brow and looked around. "In other words this tunnel is probably trapped, is that what you're saying?" Katia's eyes went wide and she hunkered down a little more on Jack's shoulder.
"I cannot think of any other reasons why such changes would be made, unless they have hidden supply stashes," he mused for a bit before shaking his head. "I doubt that though, why go through the trouble to hide something on a path that shouldn't be traveled."
"I don't even want to think of what kind of traps they could put in a place like this if they really wanted to get rid of intruders…" Jack commented, crossing his arms. "I doubt they'd go as far as to collapse the tunnel, especially if this is a path they use, but then again…"
"Pitfalls or large rolling boulders?" Razgriz suggested with a shrug.
Jack hummed thoughtfully. "True, or maybe spikes in the walls, or some sort of hydraulic crushing walls. They might even try dropping us into a pool of magma."
"Could you two just… stop," Nova said, rubbing her temples with her paw.
Katia gently swatted Jack's nose with her paw. "Y-yeah! I'm scared enough already without you talking about all the ways they're going to kill us!" She then huffed. "B-besides, only a kid would think lava traps are a good idea…!"
Jack blinked, then glanced away sheepishly. "We're just trying to be prepared for everything."
Razgriz simply shrugged before he continued forward with Nova following closely behind him. Jack used his aura-vision to make sure he stayed right behind them, although it didn't keep him from stubbing his toe on a couple protruding rocks.
As they walked forward through the tunnels, with Jack's nerves entirely on edge as he prepared to teleport himself and Katia out of harm's way if something dangerous happened, the group would suddenly feel the ground under their feet rumble slightly. Barely a second later, a set of rather thick steel bars slammed down into the tunnel behind them, a similar barrier appearing in front of them as well as they found themselves trapped in a sturdy cage.
Jack immediately started scanning the walls and floor inside the cage for the source of the rumbling, as he figured there must be more to the trap than a simple cage. And indeed a section of the wall did seem to be merely a textured panel which slid up into the ceiling, revealing a window through which a nearly blinding light shone into the tunnel. Nova and Razgriz had dropped into fighting stances, squinting as their eyes adjusted to the sudden influx of light.
Jack immediately put an arm across his face as a reflexive defense against the sudden illumination, and at that moment he expected his next sensation to be searing pain of some kind. However, no pain was forthcoming. As Jack's eyes slowly adjusted to the light after so long in the dark tunnels, he removed his arm only to be met with the sight of a large room on the other side of the window. It was fully furnished with chairs, a table, and several panels of lights, switches, screens, and other instruments. There was also, notably, a rack full of pokéballs from which Jack's auric vision was only able to get a vague impression. They were mostly full of rather powerful Pokémon, and most of them were likely stolen if Jack had to take a guess.
There were three people in the room, and after a quick glance at their surroundings Jack's eyes focused on those figures. There were two men and one woman, all of whom were wearing identical, highly familiar uniforms which caused Jack to grit his teeth in a mix of fear and rage. By this point, Nova and Razgriz had turned to face the window and the room beyond it, not sure what to expect from the Rocket grunts inside it.
All three Rocket grunts were looking right at them, and their expressions were none too kind as they glanced over the group they'd caught. Before long they started to speak to one another in what seemed to be a smug, even mocking tone, although the thick glass separating the room from the tunnel muffled their voices to a murmur.
Jack furrowed his brow before leaning over to Nova and whispering to her. "Can you hear what they're saying?"
Nova shook her head, her hair swaying behind her as she did. "Not a thing," she replied though she would very much like to swat the smug looks off their faces.
"I have nothing either," Razgriz added on. "Though I have a feeling we will probably hear from them soon enough."
Sure enough, before long there was the crackle of a speaker turning on as one of the grunts began to speak.
"Alright, listen up," he ordered with an irritating amount of confidence. "We've got you completely trapped, and we've got fifty high-level Pokémon ready at a moment's notice. Just put those Pokémon back in their Pokéballs and leave them on the ground, and we'll let you go. Resist, and we'll take them by force."
Jack was momentarily stunned into silence, his mouth open slightly as he simply stared blankly at the Team Rocket grunt in front of him. This organization which was the epitome of evil, who had bought his team from Hunter J, had led him on a wild goose chase across three regions, had laid a trap into which he'd just walked, and now they wanted to steal his Pokémon, including Nova and Razgiz.
"Are you joking…?"
The Rocket grunt seemed momentarily taken aback, and all three drew Pokéballs from their belts as they glared at Jack. "No, this is no laughing matter. Give us your Pokémon and we won't have to get rough."
Jack almost felt insulted by the ridiculousness of the situation. They had him locked up in a cage and their plan was to essentially fight him in a Pokémon battle? Even without the two pseudo-legendary Pokémon backing him up at the moment, Jack was suddenly struck by the fact that these grunts posed laughably little actual danger to him.
Razgriz smirked and shook his head. His body glowed purple as he extended a paw towards the three grunts. Before they could react, their bodies were enveloped in a purple glow and they found themselves unable to move.
"Not the smartest humans I have met," Razgriz said offhandedly. "Don't even have a dark type out to counter psychics."
Jack let out a short bark of laughter as he felt the adrenaline start to fade. "I almost feel embarrassed for being afraid of these idiots… that said, no need to take chances."
With that Jack started walking towards the large glass window separating them from the grunts. Katia, sensing that Jack's shoulder was no longer the safest place to be, quickly hopped off just in time as Jack placed a hand to the glass and sent a single pulse of aura through his palm, instantly shattering the window inward from the floor to the ceiling.
The grunts, understandably, were currently in a state of mild terror as they saw what they'd mistaken for a human shatter a bulletproof glass window with his bare hands, and then slowly walk towards them over the broken glass in bare feet without seeming to even notice it. Their panic only intensified as Jack grabbed the closest of them, the male grunt who'd been speaking earlier, by the collar and lifted him effortlessly into the air with one hand breaking Razgriz's psychic hold.
"Now then," Jack said with a malicious grin. "What was it you said? 'Drop your Pokéballs and we won't have to get rough'?"
- Interlude -
"And cut!" the author announced, calling an end to the scene with a small, involuntary sigh of relief. "Good work everyone, looks like we're finally getting back in the swing of things."
As the small team of stagehands began to clean up the set for the day, Jack walked over to where the author was sitting and stretched before sighing as well. "It sure is good to be back. Heck, at this rate we might actually finish some time before the next ice age."
"Now, don't start that again," the author headed him off, tapping his foot. "We already went over this, college is just a pain. This is a universally accepted truth. Now that all that mess is over with, we should be able to resume a semi-regular schedule again. Right..?" the author asked, a note of reservation in his tone as he glanced over at Osean.
"Assuming the world doesn't come to an end, yes," Osean replied, stretching his hands some. "It has been far too long. Jobs, college, and the like."
"And War Thund-" Razgriz started before being interrupted.
"Shush, you. Those are boring details," Osean said waving his hand dismissively.
The author chuckled wistfully, leaning back in his director's chair and staring off into the middle distance. "Of course, there was that one glorious carry we pulled off in our J-22Bs…"
"Anyway," Jack interjects before the pair go off on a tangent. "The important thing is that we're back, and hopefully soon to be better than ever. This story is far from over, and we're going to see it through to the end."