"So why do you think they call the next town, Granite City?" Cassie asked.
"If I had to guess, it'd be that." Ash said, holding out his arm, and stopping Cassie from tumbling down. Below them was a huge pit with layers of roads going down, and doorways carved into the wall every now and then.
"Whoa." Cassie said in shock. "How do we even get down there?"
"I'm guessing there's an entrance ramp or stairs somewhere around here." Ash said.
Finding some stairs, Ash and Cassie began making their way down to the bottom, in search of anyone who could give them directions. Every now and then they would hear what they thought was a voice, but nothing was there when they looked. Eventually they reached the bottom, where there was a cavern leading down.
"I wonder if everyone is working down there?" Ash said in wonderment.
"No! I can't let you go down there!" An elderly man shouted.
"Finally someone is here!" Ash said, turning to see only a door cracked open. "Hello?"
"Come inside, before the sun sets, quickly!" The elderly man shouted.
Ash, Cassie, and Pikachu ran inside, with the door being barricaded behind them.
"Whoa, wait!" Ash exclaimed.
"Don't worry, and keep your voice down." The elderly man said.
"Can we at least turn on a light?" Ash asked.
"No, it will know." The man said.
"What is it, and why are we barricaded in?" Ash questioned
.
"Shush." The man said.
Outside they could hear a loud rumbling, as the ground shook. Ash stayed silent out of fear of what was out there. After a while it finally stopped.
"Go on, you can sleep here tonight, but I'd leave if I were you come morning." The man said.
The next morning
"Are we really just leaving these people?" Cassie asked, as she watched them frightfully come out of their homes.
"No, but I need to know what it is, and our friend didn't seem keen on saying it." Ash said, looking towards the cave.
"You think it's down there?" Cassie asked.
"I think it's our best bet." Ash said, heading back there.
"No, you won't survive!" The man from last night said.
"Look, you don't want us here, and you don't want us to go down there, I want to help." Ash argued.
"You aren't the problem! He is!" The man said, pointing at Pikachu. "The monster it hunts after Pokémon before bringing it back to its dungeon deep underground."
"Then I'll wait for nightfall, that's when he comes out, right?" Ash asked.
"If you wish to fight it, it will be your end." The man warned.
"Hey, I have six badges, I think I can handle one "monster"." Ash said confidently.
"That's what the last one thought, we haven't seen her in three days since the monster grabbed her." The man said.
Ash waited above the city as night fell, and he felt the ground shake. Out from the cavern came what looked like an Onix, except that it was huge!
"Alright Gloom, let's do this!" Ash said, tossing out his grass type. "Use Mega Drain!"
Even though they were on another layer, the attack should have done something, at least caught the Onix's attention, and why was it taking the winding path, couldn't it go the quick way?
"That's not an Onix." Ash realized, returning Gloom.
"What is it then?" Cassie asked.
"One way to find out." Ash said, locking his eyes on the hole. "Let's go."
The two waited for Onix to pass by beneath them before sliding down layer after layer until they were at the base of the pit.
"Are you sure about this?" Cassie asked quietly.
"No, but I need to know what's going on." Ash said.
As they went down the cavern, light began getting dimmer and dimmer.
"Ponyta come on out." Ash said. The flames from her mane lighting up the surrounding area.
"Ash, look." Cassie said pointing down.
"Now I know that's not an Onix." Ash said, seeing tire tracks in the dirt. "Stay close, and Ponytail return."
"But we can't see." Cassie said.
"Which means whoever is down here can't see us either, just hold onto my bag with one hand and keep your other hand against the wall." Ash said, as he led them further down the tunnel.
After a while more of walking, Ash saw a light up ahead.
"How much longer do they want us digging down here, we still haven't found anything." One voice said.
"Plus, they haven't told us what to do with the captives, and have only sent orders for more of these stupid rocks." Another voice said.
Ash peered into the room, seeing a group of a few Rocket Grunts, and some cages in the car back.
"Okay Cassie, keep your distance." Ash said.
"Ash, let's get backup." Cassie urged.
"No time." Ash said, running in.
"Intruder!" A voice shouted. Ash was quickly surrounded by a group of ten rocket grunts.
"Ten on one, this should be fun." Ash said, grabbing a Pokeball. "Dratini, let's go!"
"Rhyhorn come out!"
"Raticate I choose you!"
"Ekans let's go!"
"Come on out Zubat!
"I choose Grimer!"
"Stop him where he stands, Sandshrew!"
"Oddish, do your thing!"
"Koffing attack!"
"Don't let them get away Lickitung!"
"Nidorino take them out!"
"Dratini, use Hyper Beam!"
Without Ash holding him, Dratini let out a destructive Hyper Beam, blasting the three Pokémon in front of him, and sweeping the Pokémon behind him off of their feet.
"Hey! Careful where you aim that!" A Rocket Grunt shouted.
"Ponyta! Gloom! Come out and help with Ember and Acid! Dratini use Dragon Rage! Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Ash said.
Cassie watched from a distance in amazement at her brothers tactic, he was keeping all eyes on him by making himself the literal center of their attention, but what about the prisoners.
Ash stood in the center of his four main fighters, no matter what happened next, he knew he had been improving now.
"Ni!" Dratini sneezed, sending a Dragon Rage flying off into the distance, a metal clang heard from that direction.
More Pokémon joined around Ash and his team, clearly angry at Team Rocket.
"Hey, I think it's time we run." One grunt said.
"The bosses will kill us if we leave now!" Another said.
"Yeah but if we stay, that Dratini will kill us all!" A third argued.
As the Team Rocket Grunts rushed by, they barely paid attention to Cassie.
"Ash, that was incredible!" Cassie said.
"Thank Dratini for not knowing control of his moves." Ash admitted, grabbing a torch. "But our work down here isn't done yet, there's still people down here." Ash said as Ponyta lit up the area a bit more. "Over there!" Ash exclaimed rushing to another cage.
There was a large group of people huddled inside of the cage, fearful from the attacks and not being able to make out Ash's face.
"Wait, Ash?" Megan's voice called out.
"Megan?" Ash said. "Hold on, I'll get you all out of here.
Back outside, with all the freed captives
"So it wasn't a monster, just Team Rocket up to no good." The elderly man from before said. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done."
"Don't thank us yet, there's still more work to be done." Ash said. "They had to have had another team in that Onix vehicle, I need to know where it goes and stop it too."
"Count me in." Megan said.
"Megan you're still recovering, besides I'm not sure Ponyta can carry all of us." Ash said.
"Oh, I don't need Ponyta." Megan said, holding a Pokeball of her own.
"Then let's get going." Ash said.
"Yeah let's go!" Cassie exclaimed, as Megan led the group.
"Not you Cassie." Ash said.
"Ash, I did fine back there." Cassie said.
"You did fine because of sheer luck, I can't assure your safety out there, stay here until I get back." Ash said.
"Ash." Cassie pouted.
"I'm your big brother, now you're staying here and that's final." Ash said, before rushing after Megan.