Ash's eyes slowly fluttered open as he was greeted with the sight of the ceiling above him.
He found himself groaning momentarily as he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to subdue the drowsiness he felt.
Waking up a bit more, he took in his surroundings as he made his way out of the bed, his bare feet pressing down against the carpet floor.
Pikachu was asleep on his bed, curled up into a ball and peacefully snoozing, light, cute noises escaping from his throat as he breathed. Valiant was laying down on a pillow besides the bed, still asleep, with Eevee sleeping on her own pillow on the other side of the bed.
Looking over to Nebula, she was in the windowsill, and Ash could see her beginning to wake. After he approached her, the two exchanging quick greetings with one another as he patted her head, Ash's eyes made their way to the digital clock that sat beside the television on the large counter.
'7:00 AM.' he thought to himself. A very early rise, but on an appropriate day to do so.
Yesterday had been their battle against Gary, the day prior being the day that Eevee had joined the team. Today, they were planning on going through Mt. Moon once they were all filled up on breakfast.
Also on the counter was the Pokemon Egg that Elacia had given to them, wrapped in a blanket to be kept warm.
Ash was caught off guard a bit as another yawn escaped his mouth. He was still tired, but he'd fully wake up soon. Sparing one last glance at the Egg, he made his way into the bathroom for a quick morning shower.
/
The cafeteria was fairly bare this morning, most of the Trainers likely not awake yet. Ash and his team found barely anybody in the large room as they made their way in.
Curiously, Ash looked around to see if Misty was anywhere.
Despite their awkward start the previous morning, the orange haired girl had notably warmed up to him a bit during their snack together, enough for them to continue talking for about another hour or so even after they were finished eating.
Misty, despite her first impression, was fairly pleasant to be around when she was in a good mood. She was definitely more outgoing than him, usually the one on the proactive side of their conversations, and she carried herself in a very bold manner. Her enthusiasm was a bit different from Emily, who was more goofy by comparison, or Janine, who was a bit more sophisticated and proper to mix in with her generally cheerful attitude. Misty's aura was a bit more intimidating, although not unbearably so when she was happy. Her more cheerful side felt forward, even somewhat aggressive despite her not being upset. Although her more energetic behavior and manner of speaking took some getting used to, occasionally making him feel a bit nervous, he had grown to like her a good bit. It was a bit weird that his overall opinion of her was somewhat dissonant from how her behavior sometimes made him inwardly react, Ash supposed he was just happy to make another friend.
She certainly wasn't bad despite her more intimidating, hot blooded personality. He had a feeling that she had a temper on her, based on their first meeting, but she definitely wasn't malicious or condescending like… well, Gary.
According to her, she had come from Cerulean City, where he was currently headed right now. Although the city was a known hotspot for rookie Pokemon Trainers, Misty had feared that it would be a bit too rookie friendly, making the choice to use the teleport system (which was apparently available in all cities this Season) in order to go elsewhere for just a bit extra challenge. Although she had chosen Viridian, she also voiced regret towards picking that specific location. When Ash had asked why, she had shivered uncomfortably and said "too many bugs."
She had also revealed to him that she hoped to become a Water Type Specialist. Although her team wasn't exclusively Water Type, with, in fact, only half of her team being Water Type at the moment, she apparently had a fondness for it.
Ash supposed that it didn't surprise him too much. A lot of expert Trainers specialized in a specific Typing, usually favoring it and occasionally even going so far as to use it exclusively. The major benefits of focusing on such a team included making it particularly easy for them to practice together, as well as learning the in depth details of the specific Typing more easily, due to having various different Pokemon who fell under it, and potentially utilized it in very different ways. It made it all the more easier to learn how to cover up the weaknesses of the Typing therefore almost completely negating the major disadvantage of specialization: being countered more easily by certain Types.
It was a very common practice among Elite Level Trainers, with the majority of Elite Four Members, Gym Leaders, and even Champions throughout history all specializing in either one Type, or perhaps two or three Types that meshed together well. Champion Lance was an interesting example, as he was a Dragon Specialist, but rather than favoring Dragon Types specifically, he focused on Pokemon in the Dragon Egg Group, many of which were still Dragon Types, but many of which also were not. The biological similarities were definitely present among his team, however. He was an example of a Type specialist who had a preference for a specific Typing (in his case, the Dragon Typing) but didn't completely favor it outright. In fact, only about half of his usual signature Pokemon were Dragon Types, if Ash recalled correctly, and one of his three greatest and most well known team members was a Charizard, who wasn't a Dragon Type at all.
That wasn't to say that Trainers who chose not to specialize in any specific Types of Pokemon were uncommon, however, as there were still plenty of Elite Four Members, Gym Leaders, and Champions throughout history who had no real specialization. Often, not even a preference. Currently reigning Champion Cynthia of the Lily Of The Valley Empire was a particular standout example. Only the third Champion throughout that particular League's long history (which rivaled and matched even that of Indigo itself) to not have a specialty, or even at least a preference. And famously viewed as one of the greatest Pokemon Trainers, not only alive, but to ever live in general. Much like Lance himself, along with Steven and Wallace of the Ever Grande Empire, she had a good few people who believed her to be the greatest Pokemon Trainer in history period.
Despite seeing the obvious appeal of Type Specialization, Ash wasn't sure if he himself would ever end up practicing it. Right now he was just focused on building a strong team in general, and had no such preferences to speak of at the moment.
But it was certainly a common practice, so Misty's stance definitely made sense. Although, he was still somewhat surprised that she was already focusing on a specific Typing so early. Most Trainers didn't do so until gaining more experience in general.
Granted, all three of Janine's Pokemon back in Viridian had also been Poison Types. Between Bulbasaur, Zubat, and that Weedle that she said she had caught. Perhaps she was a Type Specialist too?
Whatever the reason, Misty's convictions were quite clear: she wanted to be the greatest Water Type Pokemon Trainer of all time, and had declared as such quite loudly to Ash (causing him to shrink down nervously a bit). Ash admired her enthusiasm, although she was quite scary when she raised her voice.
A smile made its way to Ash's face as she spotted Misty with her team out a bit further into the cafeteria. If he remembered correctly, they were seated at the same table that Ash and his team had eaten breakfast at yesterday. As he led his team to her, his Pokemon seemed to recognize her from yesterday, and looked at their Trainer curiously.
Much like Ash, Misty had four Pokemon with her. The hot-blooded girl had told him about them during their conversation yesterday.
The first was a golden-brown, starfish-like Pokemon. It was a Staryu, and Misty's Starter. Apparently, Staryu had no gender.
The second was a surprising one. A penguin-like Pokemon, whose color was mostly a mixture of light-blue, dark-blue, and white, with yellow feet and a yellow beak.
This was a Piplup, which was a foreign pokemon. In fact, it was known to be the Water Type Starter Pokemon for the Sinnoh Region.
Misty had lucked out with this one, apparently catching Piplup at a fishing event held at Cerulean City on Opening Day prior to using the teleport system. The Piplup was male, and was the first Pokemon that she had ever captured. Certainly a very exciting first catch, to say the least.
The next Pokemon was an Eevee. Much like Ash's own Eevee, this one was female. Misty had captured her at Viridian Forest.
The fourth and final Pokemon was pink and had a spherical body. It was a Jigglypuff, a Normal-Fairy Type Pokemon. This one was female and had been captured just outside of Viridian Forest, shortly after Misty had earned her first Gym badge.
Overall, she had a pretty interesting team. Ash wondered how strong they were…
But he shook those thoughts away for now. As much as he'd love to ask for a battle (suddenly realizing that none of his battles had been against people that he was actually friends with), he knew that he and his team would really have to get moving after breakfast.
Instead, he put those thoughts aside for now, approaching Misty with caution.
A sudden feeling of nervousness was suddenly felt within his stomach. Why was he nervous? He had talked with her before. She seemed to like him well enough. Why was initiating an interaction with somebody that he already knew so difficult?
Ash shook his head a bit, trying to clear away the doubts from his mind. He needed to stop waiting for people to come to him. He was a Pokemon Trainer now. He needed to be more confident in himself. And that definitely included being more social with other people.
Right now, she hadn't noticed him yet, and neither had her team. All of them were simply focused on eating.
Taking a deep breath, Ash steeled himself and, taking a leap of faith, made his way over to her. Judging by her tray, it seemed like she had only just started.
"Hey… Misty?"
The girl perked up and turned to see him standing behind her, suddenly attracting the attention of her team as well. He tensed up a bit at the sets of eyes staring at him.
To his relief, however, she smiled. Not an overly ecstatic grin, but also not a small, halfhearted one. Just a regular, friendly smile.
"Oh! Hey, Ash. Nice to see you."
Ash felt a small case of Butterfree in his stomach at that, but tried not to make too big a deal of it.
'Relax, Ash.' he thought to himself. 'This girl isn't Gary. Her being happy to see you shouldn't be so overwhelming.'
It was true that "Nice to see you" wouldn't have ever been something that he'd hear from one of the kids his age back at Pallet Town. Not directed towards him, anyway.
But he knew better now. There was no need to be surprised when somebody said that to him. It was a very typical thing to say. Misty, Janine, Emily, and Rick weren't the kids from Pallet Town. Therefore, he needed to keep his memories of Pallet Town divorced from his expectations when socializing.
As Misty's team eyed his own team carefully (Ash's team themselves doing the same), the young boy's eyes flickered over to the spot next to Misty before he locked eyes with her again.
"Would it be okay if we… sat with you guys?"
Misty blinked for a second before her grin widened a bit.
"Duh, why are you even asking?"
The built up stress within him subsided completely.
'See?' he thought to himself. 'That wasn't so hard.'
/
It didn't take more than a few minutes for the two rookies to introduce their respective teams to one another. Ash's Eevee and Misty's Eevee both took an immediate interest in one another due to being of the same species. Valiant found himself sitting next to Staryu, the two both silent but content with each other's presence, while Pikachu and Nebula quickly engaged in friendly chatter with Piplup and Jigglypuff.
Ash set his tray down next to Misty's, the girl scooting over a bit so he could set next to her more comfortably.
"Nice to see your team's still chipper after yesterday." Misty commented, taking a break from her muffin (which looked like it was blueberry), fruit punch, applesauce and eggs to look over to the two teams eating together. "You should've seen my team after they recovered yesterday. Nothing but grumbles."
Ash chose not to point out that she herself wasn't in the best mood herself the previous morning, and simply smiled a bit. "I was worried they might be upset. Especially Pikachu. He… doesn't like Gary."
She turned her gaze to him, curiosity now occupying her features.
"You don't seem to either." her tone of voice wasn't accusatory, just matter of fact.
Ash's face became uneasy, turning back to his food, consisting of pancakes (he was treating himself to chocolate chip this morning), apple juice, sausages, eggs, and a hash brown. Sensing his discomfort, Misty frowned guiltily.
"Sorry, I-" her voice was a lot more… gentle than normal.
"It's fine." Ash quickly cut her off. "He's… caused me a lot of trouble back at home, but I'm trying not to think about that anymore right now." he took a bite out of one of his pancakes, joyously taking in the taste of the chocolate chips as he chewed. "What matters right now is getting the badges that I need to reach the Indigo Plateau. I'll get stronger than him eventually. I just can't limit myself by focusing on it so much."
Misty blinked a bit at that, before turning back to her tray with a chuckle. "Heh. Noble of you, I guess. If it were me, I wouldn't stop until that idiot was crushed in my palm."
Ash winced a bit. "But, ummm… not literally, right…?"
Her lips were twitched upwards. "You heard what I said."
Ash giggled nervously at the gung ho girl and quickly returned his attention to his food as he changed the subject.
"So… ummm… how has your team been today so far?"
Misty shrugged her shoulders at that. "Their mood's improved a good bit. They were pretty bummed out yesterday but they've gotten over it now, I guess." She took a bite of her muffin, chewing with a bit of an irritated look on her face before swallowing. "I'm still pretty peeved about it, though. Wasn't even a fair fight, the cheapskate." That last sentence was spoken in a growl.
Ash flinched a bit fearfully from the aggressive nature of the tone, which prompted a questioning look from her.
"What're you so worked up about? I'm not mad at you."
Ash's hands were quickly held out in front of him defensively. "N-n-n-nothing!" he said somewhat frantically in reply.
A sigh escaped her throat. "You really are skittish, you know that? What happened to your behavior from yesterday when you were battling that Gary loser?"
"Oh…" Ash's eyes wandered to the side as his facial expression suddenly became somewhat awkward.
It wasn't untrue, she had a point. A different side of him that he wasn't fully aware of prior had been brought out yesterday.
"You know what I mean, don't you?" she tapped her fork against her tray while keeping her eyes on him. "You were just… a lot different from right now. And from when we first ate together."
Ash smiled awkwardly a bit. "Yeah… I guess so. Just got tired of the way he was, I suppose."
"Can't blame you there." she took a sip of her juice as that smirk returned to her face. "Not that verbal stuff is all there was to it, of course. Nurse Joy probably had to check that precious Wartortle of his for a concussion after what your Staravia did."
Ash allowed a feeling of pride toward Nebula to occupy his thoughts as Misty brought up that one portion of the battle, although he did his best not to take any cathartic glee in it.
He had a feeling that Misty would have herself, however, had she been in his shoes.
"Heh, yeah. She really did do a number on him. I'm really happy for her about that." his gaze turned to his team, by the side of the table just beyond Misty, as he grinned. "They're all really strong. I couldn't ask for better companions."
Misty smirked at that. "We'll see about that. You and I should battle sometime. I know you're planning on leaving soon, but another time." the look on her face became a little bit smug as she returned to her food. "My team and I don't lose. Yesterday was just a fluke. That jerk was at a much higher level than we ever could have been realistically ready for. Doesn't count." those last couple of words were growled out again.
Ash flinched a bit again, but not as fearfully this time. "Ummm… yeah, I'm sure." his face returned to normal as he inwardly shook the nervousness away. "I'd like to battle you. It's just that… like you said, I was hoping to go through Mt Moon soon. I wanted us to get started this morning."
A brief silence fell between the two as she studied him carefully, before speaking up again a few moments later.
"Speaking of which…" she spoke up, earning his attention to her. She frowned a bit, but her face quickly returned to normal. Much quicker than Ash's had before. "I'm planning on leaving today too. This afternoon. I just wanted to get in a little bit of light training first." she looked over to her food as she tapped her fork against the tray absentmindedly. "If you want… we're all going to the same place anyway, so…" she shrugged a bit, her face neutral but friendly. "If you're willing to wait a few extra hours, we can all go together. No reason not to, right?"
Ash's eyes blinked rapidly, Butterfree suddenly in his stomach again.
"You'd… be okay with that?" he wasn't really sure how else to respond. He had never traveled with another human before. Sure, he had spent extensive time with Elacia, Rick, and Emily, and a night with Janine, but he had never actually been on the road with someone else apart from his own team. He had never even really considered such an offer before until now.
"Our teams seem to get along fine." she shrugged her shoulders as her gaze made its way to the Pokemon seated on the floor, happily coexisting together as they dug into their food. She looked back to Ash with an even look on her face, her lips curled upwards into a small smile as she shrugged at him absentmindedly. "I mean, wouldn't hurt, right?"
Ash blinked, scratching his cheek a bit as he processed the request.
It was just under a month ago when nobody in his age group would even talk to him in a friendly manner. His interactions with Janine had been a surreal experience for him for that reason alone. And now…
Someone was just offering to let him tag along with them out of the blue. It was… sudden.
Not unpleasant, though.
He liked Misty. He still wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like their personalities meshed together in the slightest. If anything, they were as opposite as he and Gary were. But for reasons that he couldn't quite pinpoint, it didn't bother him.
Besides… The thought of having another human to talk to while on the road was something that… appealed to him greatly as well.
It wasn't that he wouldn't trade Pikachu, Nebula, Valiant, and Eevee for the world, because they were and always will be irreplaceable to him. Really, they were all that he needed.
But they weren't human. Not that that was an issue, at all, because it most certainly wasn't to him, but getting to interact with other people was an experience that interactions with Pokemon just could not provide, and vice versa.
The fact that the invitation had actually been extended to him, and done so casually, as though Misty didn't even believe it to be such a big deal… he couldn't help his lips curving upwards just a little bit.
Misty tilted her head at the young boy. "Ummm… Ash? Is that smile a yes? A simple 'Sure, I would like that' would do just fine, you know."
Ash jolted out of his thoughts and shook his head frantically for a second or two, his face crimson as he looked apologetically at the orange haired girl.
"Sorry about that! Sure! I would love to join you!" After stammering out his lines, he chuckled a bit, in a nervous tone as he tried to regain his bearings.
Misty looked at him weirdly for a second before returning to her food, giving the young boy a quick thumbs up in response.
Still eating her eggs, she stole a quick glance at him from the corner of her eye, as Ash tried to focus on his pancakes, still trying to hide the embarrassment from his face.
'He's kind of a wimp.' she thought to herself matter of factly as she bit into her food. She shrugged uncaringly. 'But he's not so bad.'
/
Soon after, breakfast ended. Ash and Misty had continued to talk for a bit while eating, although none of the topics were particularly noteworthy. The smalltalk between the two of them was enjoyable, though. At least it was for Ash, although Misty seemed to like it herself. They spoke to each other without a preference, just saying whatever came to mind for them. And Ash couldn't help but like it that way.
It was nice. Nothing much else to say. He could get used to it. The more he engaged with other kids like this, the more he realised that he had been missing out on a lot. Misty was a bit unpredictable, but despite being nervous around her on occasion, Ash was glad to have ran into her.
And it seemed like the feeling was mutual, at the very least. Misty had been fairly friendly with him so far, anyway. Not quite mellow, and definitely more brash, but it didn't bother him in the long run. It was intimidating at times for him, but not something that would turn him away.
Yet another kid he wished he had gone to school with. Was this going to be a trend for him? Because it was beginning to feel like it was.
He was definitely beginning to notice a pattern here.
Regardless, once the duo was done eating, they had quickly rounded up their respective teams, who had also finished their food.
Despite being surprised by the news, none of the Pokemon reacted negatively to traveling together, which pleased both trainers.
In fact, Pikachu and Jigglypuff seemed to be quite open to the idea, which seemed to help further encourage the rest of the Pokemon along with them.
Misty and her team spent a few hours on the battlefield training together, with Ash and his team watching and occasionally doing some minor drills of their own.
It wasn't anything major, however.
They needed to conserve their energy for the trip, and Misty and her team all seemed to have the same mindset as them.
After a quick snack break, everybody was ready to go, saying a quick goodbye to Nurse Joy as they made their way out of the Pokemon Center.
Said Pokemon Center was located right at the foot of Mt. Moon, so it wouldn't take too long for them to get there.
Ash had Pikachu and Eevee at his side. Nebula wouldn't be able to fly around as freely in the caverns of Mt. Moon, and Valiant had preferred to not take the trip on foot. Pikachu, as Ash had noticed, had never taken issue to traveling outside, usually choosing to stay out and about whenever Ash had provided him with the option. The boy was surprised that Eevee had chose to come along too, however. Not that he was upset about it, of course.
Part of him wondered if it was a good thing that Nebula wasn't out at the moment, then, since Eevee was still feeling bitter towards her for their encounter from a couple of days ago. It was still too soon.
On Misty's end, only Piplup had opted to stay out.
The penguin-like Pokemon was casually conversing with Pikachu (Eevee curiously listening in), as Misty approached Ash.
"Alright, are you ready to get going?" her backpack was strapped neatly over her soldiers as she eyed the boy, who slowly nodded in response.
He was suddenly feeling a bit nervous. Not just because of Misty's presence (he wasn't used to traveling with other people), but because of the thought of traveling through the caverns.
Mt. Moon's caverns were known to be a frightening concept for many rookie Trainers, even when not taking the pathways that lead deeper into the mountain. Since their mutual target was Cerulean City, Ash and Misty would thankfully be avoiding those deeper paths themselves, but that didn't stop the trip from being intimidating nevertheless. The young boy frequently found himself paranoid about getting lost inside of the tunnels.
The thought had him inwardly shivering, but he suppressed those fears for now, doing his best to put on a brave face in front of his new friend. He'd already embarrassed himself in front of Misty a good few times, after all.
"Y-Yeah, ready when you are." he hoped his smile didn't seem too fake. Thankfully, Misty wasn't studying him very closely as he responded, so he seemed to be good to go.
"Great." The brash orange haired girl had a much more genuine smile on her face as she casually nodded back at him. Was she not nervous at all? Or was she just better at hiding it? Or maybe she wasn't hiding it as well as Ash thought she was and he just wasn't observant enough to pick up on the signals?
The boy tried to study her for a moment as she made her casual, carefree response. There didn't seem to be anything deceptive occupying her features, but then again, what signals was he supposed to be looking for?
Was she really that much braver than him? Or just better at acting like it? Or was he just horrible at picking up on other people's cues? Just what was it that he was doing wrong?
"Ummm… Ash?" he blinked out of his stupor to find Misty scrutinizingly looking him over, her hands pressed against her hips. "Why are you staring at me? Or looking off into space?"
Ash's face was getting hot again.
"Sorry! I'm ready, let's go!" he stammered out nervously as the exchange caught the attention of their Pokemon.
Misty's eyes slowly began to narrow, prompting the young boy to flinch under her gaze. Mercifully, however, it did not last long, and she soon turned to their teammates in order to get their attention.
"Alright, you three! Chitchats are over, save the rest of your talk for the trip." she pointed her thumb backwards in the direction of the towering mountain ahead of them.
The three Pokemon nodded and began moving. As they followed their Trainers towards the mountain, Ash pressed his hands against his cheeks a couple of times, as if trying to will the blush on his face away.
'Damnit.' he thought to himself. 'I embarrassed myself again.'
/
The trek to Mt. Moon was short but rough.
Reaching the caverns required the group to traverse the increasingly rocky road ahead of them, which eventually began to rise into a hill of somewhat uneven ground as they followed the path that led them to the entrance of the caverns. More than once, Ash and his orange haired friend found themselves stumbling as they focused themselves and their efforts to maintain their balance, Misty having to grab hold of him to stop him from falling on a couple of occasions.
Pikachu was having no trouble with the climb, having spent a whole week practicing such things back in Pewter, but Eevee and Piplup were notably more troubled by the ordeal, while Ash and Misty were left moving forward in an awkward manner as they constantly had to switch gazes between their feet and the road ahead of them, making sure to look exactly where they were stepping while simultaneously having to keep their eyes out in front of them. It was a tedious ordeal, and one that neither of them enjoyed.
Ash could not fault Misty for the groan that escaped her throat as the group of five finally made their way to the entrance of the tunnels.
"UGGGH…remind me never to do that again. Now I definitely wish I had started somewhere else! I should've waited until I was far into my journey and had a nice, big Flying Type to just soar me over this bullcrap!" The girl grunted in disgust as she glared spitefully back at the path they had just crossed. "Piplup went through some training to navigate rocky landscapes, but I never bothered teaching him to climb."
Ash wiped a bead of sweat from his face as the anxiety temporarily left him…
...Only to quickly be replaced by even more anxiety as his gaze found its way to their true goal, the entrance to Mt. Moon's infamous tunnels.
"Let's hope we fare better inside." he muttered apprehensively as he stared into the abyss contained within the mouth of stone that lay ahead of them.
Misty's face scrunched up as she joined him at his side. "Yeah, I guess the real complaining comes later." she said uneasily.
/
Mt. Moon's inside tunnels were outlined by dimly lit lanterns, mercifully installed by the League in order to ensure the safety of the many travelers that would pass through the caverns year by year. Although it spared the equally grateful Ash and Misty of being left at the nonexistent mercy of the pitch black darkness that the tunnels would have contained otherwise for them to be left with no sense of direction or security to speak of, it only provided minor comfort for the duo of trainers and their Pokemon as they made their way through the still overall dark tunnels.
The lanterns each had a bit of a short range, the brightness not enough to light up the inside of the caverns entirely. The golden light that shined from them colored the walls of the tunnels, but only within a short range or so. The inside of the caverns was a mixture of shining, golden stone and pitch black rocks as Ash and Misty trod through.
The boy was frowning with anxiety as he carefully looked through his surroundings, turning his head slowly as the group made their way through.
Misty's face was lit up by the light of the lanterns as she suddenly broke the tense silence between the group of travelers.
"How long have we been walking, Ash? Any rough estimates?"
Ash flinched.
"I… uh… wasn't keeping track." he anxiously met her gaze. "Half hour, I guess?"
The boy couldn't tell if his friend was sighing or scoffing. "Would've expected you to be a bit more proactive about it." she looked on ahead. "Still, though, that was about my guess anyway. Maybe a bit longer…"
The tunnel was gradually beginning to increase in width as they continued their way through, with larger lanterns to compensate. Eventually, they reached a point where the paths began to branch off into multiple tunnels. A sign was mercifully there to signify that their current path was the one leading to Cerulean.
Misty looked over to Ash. ""We're probably more likely to run into more Pokemon if we take one of the other tunnels." she pointed out. "It's where a lot of them nest." she frowned towards one of the branching tunnels. "I'm not really looking to catch anything right now, though. I just want to be in and out of here."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, same."
/
"Thunder Shock!"
Pikachu's bolt of lightning was narrowly avoided by the Zubat, which took aim at the young mouse to charge forward.
For the most part, the main path was lacking in wild Pokemon, but Ash and Misty had run into a few as they made their way through the mountain. Although they hadn't intended to capture any of the Pokemon that came out and attacked them so far, the battles were at least good practice for their team.
Zubat's bared fangs began to glow purple as the use of Poison Fang engulfed them in toxic substances. At Ash's warning, Pikachu quickly leapt out of the way of the attack, tail now coated in metal as he ran forward for his counter.
Behind Ash, Misty, Eevee, and Piplup all looked on as the battle unfolded. Since they were using these encounters with wild Pokemon as additional training, the two friends had mutually agreed to take turns not jump into battles unless it proved to be necessary. So far, the two rookie trainers had been faring quite well, all things considered.
Zubat flew upwards to avoid Pikachu's strike, and responded by flapping its wings, shooting slices of wind that Ash recognized as Air Cutter in the mouse's direction.
The attack kicked up dust as it exploded against the rocky ground, Pikachu taking a leap backwards to dodge the attack as an Electro Ball formed at the tip of his tail.
The Zubat was sent catapulting through the air as the orb of lightning struck it, but as it righted itself, it let out a horrific screech that had everybody present reeling.
Ash wailed in agony as he practically slammed his hands against his ears, desperately wishing to conceal the eardrums from the sound as the Supersonic mercilessly made itself known to his sense of hearing.
Behind him, Misty was on her knees as she mimicked Ash's own actions.
"GET THAT DAMN THING TO SHUT UP NOW!" she practically roared as the Zubat continued to cry out.
Piplup and Eevee were both reeling from the attack as well, as was Pikachu. As the mouse covered his ears in pain, the noise suddenly stopped as Zubat attempted to take advantage of Pikachu's recoil to charge forward with another Poison Fang. Scrambling in shock, Pikachu rolled out of the way just in time.
Gasping, Ash felt a mix of relief for the sound being gone, yet was also being tortured by the lingering pain that it had left behind in his ears. As Misty began to stand up, her face now murderous as she observed the Zubat circling around in another attempt to bite Pikachu, Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. He had to end this battle before Zubat used that move again.
As Zubat once again charged forward with poison Fang, Ash gave the order. "Pikachu, Zap Tail!"
Both pained and angry, Pikachu smirked bitterly as he responded to Ash's command, holding out his metallic tail to intercept Zubat's Poison Fang.
As Zubat's teeth painfully chomped down onto the steel coating of Pikachu's tail, the young mouse immediately sent a surge of electricity through the tail, agonizingly zapping Zubat at point blank range, the bat like Pokemon crying out in misery as Pikachu swung his tail backwards to fling the opposing Pokemon away. As Zubat sailed through the air, Pikachu charged forward, lightly enhancing his speed with a brief Quick Attack, and slammed his Iron Tail into the bat like Pokemon's stomach with as much blunt force as possible.
Zubat, after bluntly colliding with the stone hard walls of the caverns, fell to the rocky ground in an unceremonious heap, and Misty huffed uncaringly as she observed the Poison-Flying Type's limp body.
"Hmph. Good riddance." Ash felt her shoulder roughly bump his own to get his attention. "Ugh, thanks for dealing with that one quickly. I'm pretty sure I would have had to glue my ears back on if it tried to pull that crap again."
Ash rubbed the back of his neck a bit as he tried to take in Misty's words, still reeling from the effects of the Supersonic just as much as she was. In an attempt to take his mind off of it, he looked over to Pikachu, who was being approached by Eevee and Piplup. All of them were also trying to get over the attack.
They seemed to be doing a slightly better job at it, though, which Ash thought was nice, even if it made him feel just a little bit envious of them at the same time.
It was only natural that Pokemon could recover from the effects of a Pokemon's moves quicker than humans could, but it didn't mean that Ash wasn't frustrated by how much more difficult that humans had it.
Humans were so fragile compared to how Pokemon were. But then again, Pokemon were the ones who typically did the fighting anyway.
Which made him wonder if he even had a right to complain.
Misty sure seemed to think so, but he felt conflicted.
Eevee approached Pikachu a bit slowly, but there was clearly trust in her eyes for the moment. She had grown used to the mouse, thankfully,
After the Evolution Pokemon sniffed at him for a bit, Pikachu rubbed the back of his head bashfully as Eevee barked out what seemed to be a compliment, and Ash couldn't help but smile. Joining in, Piplup chirped out what seemed to be praise as well.
Pikachu wasn't egotistical, but he certainly enjoyed positive attention nonetheless.
The mouse perked up as Ash approached the trio of Pokemon with Misty in toe.
Patting his Starter on the head, Ash looked forward, suddenly perking up as he heard a noise in the background.
It sounded like a pair of voices, although he couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Misty, I think some people are up ahead." he commented.
Misty shrugged. "Probably some other Trainers. Maybe if we hurry and catch up with them they can tell us how much further we have to go."
Ash nodded enthusiastically. "Good! Let's go!"
With their Pokemon dashing alongside them, the duo of trainers made their way forward through the tunnels, reaching a large room with multiple branching paths.
Almost immediately, they spotted the sources of the two voices, a man and a woman standing a bit further into the room.
Ash waved a bit as he began to approach the duo. "Hey, we were wondering if-"
He froze as the two turned around.
Ash and Misty's faces paled as they spotted the large R on their uniforms.
Team Rocket.
/
Deeper into the caverns, a platoon of Team Rocket soldiers had set up camp.
The room that acted as the main area of their makeshift hideout was fairly large, enough for them to comfortably set up equipment stations while still being able to move about freely.
Although a good few of them were currently out and about, just as many were still in the room.
Activities amongst the group ranged between discussion amongst each other regarding their current mission, maintenance on the equipment that they had set up, and silently standing around waiting for orders.
A small group of soldiers were gathered near one of the far ends of the room.
A large table was set up for beakers of water and soda, the group gathered around the table to get some drinks.
Among the group was a towering, muscular figure whose face was concealed by a mostly green mask that covered much of his head, with spiky hair sticking out of the top. His hair was somewhat dark, although apart from his goatee and the hair sticking out of his mask, not much of it could be seen.
His subordinates eyed him with unease, their stomachs twisting into knots and making it difficult to drink their beverages as their eyes landed on him. His lips twitched upwards a bit at their behavior, although he didn't say anything.
His commanding presence translated into his tone of voice as he addressed the soldiers, raising his voice as he left the table with a glass of water in hand and made his way to the center of the room.
Silence immediately fell to every other soldier in the room, leaving only room for his voice as his words boomed across the makeshift hideout.
"Listen up! We still have a bit of a ways downwards to go before we reach the Moon Stone." The mask on his face made him seem perpetually crazed, near impossible to tell if the look on his face was truly bloodlusted, or just an illusion. As his mouth twisted upwards into a grin, he continued his announcement. "The area of the Moon Stone is the den of high level Pokemon that have made the nearby sections of the mountain their nest." he said evenly, yet in a somewhat excited aura. "Therefore, only our top members within the group will be going any further from here." pulling out a clipboard, he looked around the room. "I have a list of our strongest members here who were handpicked by Commander Archer to be the frontrunners of our mission to secure the Moon Stone. These will act as our elite squadron to raid the deepest depths of this mountain in search of the prize. Agent Cyan! A word!"
The somewhat lanky, mustachioed man with dirty blond hair tried to remain upright as he approached the mysterious masked man, but found himself shrinking more and more the closer he got.
The masked man's fists pressed against his hips as Cyan stopped a few feet in front of him, a couple heads shorter than him, and therefore, forced to look upwards as his masked superior addressed him.
"I'll be leading the offensive squadron to take the Moon Stone, of course, which means that you will be in charge of maintaining our base. Keep everyone patrolling for trainers so that our efforts aren't compromised by unpredicted nuisances."
Doing his best to look tough, Cyan nodded, before replying in a somewhat nasally voice.
"Of course, sir. Let's just hope no one else tries to put up any resistance like the last group that was encountered. A couple of broken legs came out of that incident."
The masked man shrugged, the metal mask concealing his face hiding whether or not his facial expression was callous or simply matter of fact. "You can never predict the actions of these travelers. Some are either cowardly enough, or smart enough, to cooperate, while others will make things harder for everybody involved. Speaking of which, I'm going to pay a quick visit to our prisoners before departing. Round up everyone on the list." handing the clipboard to Cyan, he turned away without another word, walking off towards one of the tunnels.
As Cyan began reading the names on the list aloud, watching as the assigned members lined up, his mind was in an almost completely different place.
'Despicable that I am not on the list. Is the commander really that incapable of recognizing talent? We have all these people getting ready to pillage this mountain's greatest treasure, and I'm… stuck on guard duty!'
/
The Iron-Masked man made his way through the tunnel to reach a smaller room, eying the children and teenagers that were lined up against the wall in the back. He grinned as most of the prisoners froze up upon his arrival, with the soldiers watching over them in the room immediately perking up upon noticing his presence.
Just as he was about to speak, he noticed a pink haired girl sitting on the hard, rocky floor, shivering as she was accosted by one of the soldiers.
She could be no older than twelve or thirteen, perhaps eleven, and the look of horror on her face as she realized that she had nowhere to back away was palpable.
The soldier pressed his hand firmly against the wall as he glowered into her eyes. "Thought you could get away with passing secret notes to your buddies, huh? Do you take us for some kind of joke? If you want to get out of this without any bones fractured, you'll cooperate with us until our mission is done!"
The girl squealed fearfully as her hands covered her head, eyes closed as she looked away from her assailant and down to the stone cold floor.
"I'm sorry!" she stuttered in a frightened tone of voice. "It was wrong of me, I know! Just please don't hurt me!"
"If you didn't want to get hurt, then why do something so stupid in the first place! Your not-"
"What's going on here?" the man with the iron mask questioned as he casually strode over to the two. "And here I thought order was being maintained while I was addressing the rest of the crew."
The pink haired girl's eyes shot open as her gaze landed on the towering man before her, her lips quivering as she began to feel as though she would vomit from the stress.
Even with the metal mask covering his face, it still felt as though his gaze was piercing right through her. As the leader crossed his arms, she once again panicked at the realization that she had nowhere to scoot back to.
"Iron-Masked Marauder." the other man did his best to keep his voice composed as he looked over to his masked superior, and although he managed for the most part, the anxiety was still partially slipping through. "I apologize that you had to walk into this. I was just trying to remind this little girl to behave herself while she is in our custody."
"Yes, I heard. Secret notes, huh?" His sharp gaze returned to the pink haired girl, who felt as though her chest was about to give out.
"Please… I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have-" her fearful stammering was interrupted by the man.
"Enough, kid." his raised hand cut her off, along with the blunt tone of his voice. Crossing his arms again, he glared down at the young prisoner with a stoic expression that was twisted and warped by the presence of his metal mask. "The dissonance of your words and your deeds makes you hard to speak to. You clearly act like you don't want us to do anything to you, and yet you knowingly do something that is guaranteed to provoke us if you get caught in the act. I'm all for a little bit of inconsistency in this world, but your behavior is just bizarre. And Team Rocket has had at least a few dozen other prisoners just like yourself." her gaze was practically frozen in her terrified expression as he leaned down minimally in order to get a better look at her. "Your so-called survival instincts are just hypocrisy. Try to learn your place before you've given us a reason to hurt you, not after."
As the other soldier kneeled down, he grabbed onto the girl and roughly pulled her to her feet. He tightened his grip on her in order to prevent her from staggering and losing her balance from the sudden action, before smacking his hand across her face and roughly shoving her in the direction of the other prisoners. When the two kids in front of her caught her to prevent her from losing her balance again, he turned to the masked man, who held his head high as he addressed the prisoners with an even tone of voice.
"A word of reminder to you all. You're not trainers right now. You're hostages. People whose well being are on the line until you've gotten what we came for." as the fearful crowd took in his words, his glare tightened. "I don't want to hear about anymore incidents when I get back. Simply do your part and stand against that wall. Cooperate with our men until you are told you can leave. And never provoke the people who could punish you at a moment's notice. Understood?"
It was probably the sharp tone of his voice that got the crowd of trainers nodding frantically in immediate response to his declaration. Satisfied, he turned to the other soldiers in the room, who had all gathered behind him, before offering them all a curt nod.
"We'll be moving out now. Into the deepest depths of the Mt. Moon caverns. Just keep everyone here in check until we get back. The Moon Stone will soon be property of Team Rocket."
The men nodded at that, still trying to ease themselves in his presence, but only managing somewhat.
With nothing left to say, the masked leader made his way out of the room.
The prisoners were already somewhat relieved to see him gone, and even the soldiers were somewhat mixed about it.
/
"I didn't realize there were still trainers left to clear out."
Ash was afraid he'd vomit out of stress as the man spoke.
The woman grumbled. "Tch, he'll have our heads if we leave any stragglers." her voice suddenly became booming. "Hey kids! You need to come with us! Now!"
Ash and Misty backed away with quivering eyes and lips as the two figures approached them, walking forcefully across the room.
Pikachu, Eevee, and Piplup weren't faring much better, but the young mouse's cheeks sparked madly as he dared to let out a fierce growl towards the approaching soldiers.
The duo stopped just a couple of meters from the groups as the electricity crackled across the mouse's cheeks.
The man's face twisted into something akin to a glare as he leered down at the yellow rodent. "Control your rat, kids. We're in the middle of an important mission." he gestured his hand out, his movements friendly, but his face not. "Hand over your Poke Balls and follow us to where we are keeping the other trainers. You won't get so much of a scrape as long as you cooperate. Otherwise…" two orbs suddenly appeared in his hands, the Poke Balls quickly enlarging. "You won't be the first ones to get hurt for your recklessness."
'There's more of them?!' Ash thought frantically as his breathing suddenly sped up. How many trainers have they imprisoned here? Where were they? What were he and Misty supposed to do?
The encounter with Cassidy and Butch hadn't been very long ago in the slightest. This was the third time that he'd run into Team Rocket on his journey, and it hadn't even been a month yet! What was going on right now?! Why did he keep having to run into this group?! What had he done to deserve it?!
Misty had backed away from him just a bit. It seemed as though she couldn't make up her mind as to whether she wanted to protect Ash or the other way around, her arms wrapped protectively around the boy while she simultaneously hid behind him. The color was completely gone from her face, giving her a sickly appearance as the stress of the situation overwhelmed her.
The man snarled. "Not going to comply, huh? Very well, just remember that you brought this upon yourself. Stupid brats."
Ash recognized the Pokemon that emerged from the Poke Balls. A Sandshrew and a Tangela. As he took them in, the woman took out a Poke Ball of her own and released a somewhat large, bulky Growlithe.
Pikachu backed away a little bit, but the electricity emitting from his cheeks increased in intensity. Eevee attempted to imitate him with a growl of her own, but wasn't quite as good at hiding her fear.
Misty released Ash and tried to stand upright. Ash felt her breath brush against his ear as she whispered to him, simultaneously trying to sound encouraging to him while also convincing herself to be brave.
"We have to fight, Ash." her voice was soft, but final. "Who knows what they'll do to us?"
She was right. And Ash hated knowing that.
Ash nodded reluctantly and released Valiant, while Misty released Staryu.
The woman sneered. "Five to three, eh? Nice try, but strength in numbers won't be enough for a couple of kids."
Ash and Misty ran backwards to clear some distance as Valiant and Staryu surveyed the situation, the young Ralts immediately tensing up upon noticing Team Rocket's presence. Eevee scooted over towards him, her growls now becoming a bit more genuine as a Shadow Ball appeared in her jaws.
"Attack!" yelled the man.
Sandshrew bolted forward and allowed its body to intercept the blast of electricity that Pikachu had aimed at Growlithe. However, fully blocking the blast caused it to stay in one place for too long, and although the electricity was harmless in the face of the Ground Type Pokemon, the same did not hold true for the blast of bubbles that collided with the Sandshrew as Piplup quickly launched a follow-up attack of his own.
Now Pikachu took aim at Sandshrew as he charged forward with a metallic tail, only for a Vine Whip from Tangela to suddenly wrap around said tail as Pikachu attempted to thrust it forward. However, as Tangela attempted to flip Pikachu over, the electric mouse letting out a shocked yelp as the attempt was made, the Grass Type was assaulted by a simultaneous Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam from Eevee and Valiant, sending the opposing Pokemon rolling backwards as Pikachu freed himself.
But just as the young mouse attempted to get back into the fray, he was blessed at point blank range from an Ember attack as the Growlithe rushed forward.
"Staryu, Rapid Spin!" at Misty's order, Staryu flung itself through the air, rotating with great velocity as it slammed painfully into the canine Pokemon's side.
As Growlithe wailed in pain from the sudden blow, Eevee was upon it, firing a point blank Shadow Ball right into its head at Ash's command. The concussive blast was too much for the Fire Type Pokemon, which was already reeling in pain from Staryu's attack.
As Growlithe collapsed, Pikachu took aim at Sandshrew, who had been blasted by yet another barrage of bubbles by Piplup as it had attempted to join the fray. Raising a metallic tail, the young mouse slammed it down on top of the Ground Type's head, leaving Sandshrew to unceremoniously faceplant into the cold, hard stone.
Now the only one left, Tangela raised its vines again, preparing to attack.
Suddenly, Valiant rose from the ground behind it, exiting Shadow Sneak as he froze the unprepared Grass Type Pokemon in place with Confusion. With a loud battle cry, Piplup flung himself forward with a glowing beak, driving it head first into Tangela, who was sent flying away and landed in a heap.
The man's face was twisted in rage as the five Pokemon advanced on him and his comrade.
"Dammit all!" he stuttered lividly as he backed a few steps away from the advancing Pokemon who were glaring daggers at him. "We exhausted our stronger Pokemon against the other trainers! We gotta move!"
"Yeah, let's split!" shouted the woman frantically.
Not even bothering to recall their Pokemon, the two turned tail and fled, only for Pikachu to dash ahead of them and blast them with a quick jolt of electricity, forcing their bodies to collapse painfully onto the stone hard floors.
"This was supposed to be the easy part of the mission..." The man stammered his words out pathetically as he and the woman were left delirious from the shock, their bodies spasming on the rocky floors.
As Ash and Misty regrouped with their team, Ash allowed a deep sigh of relief to escape from his lungs, and he could hear Misty sighing as well.
"Great work, you guys." he said as he allowed a nervous smile to make its way onto his face. "Now let's hurry up and get out of here so that we can contact the authorities at the next Pokemon Center and-"
"HEY! What's going on here?!"
The entire group paled as they turned around and saw four more soldiers running into the room from another tunnel.
It was too soon to be feeling relieved or safe.
/
"Agent Cyan! A report!"
Cyan perked up as a somewhat short woman approached him, her uniform a bit dirtied from a previous battle.
"What is it, this time?" he grumbled irritably, his eyes constantly wandering to the tunnel where the Marauder and his squadron had headed off to.
"We've received word that two more trainers have been spotted roaming the caverns! Rookies, from the looks of it. They took out two soldiers and are now fleeing from more!"
Cyan groaned in dissatisfaction.
"Is this the most interesting this mission is going to get for us?" he looked around the room. Most of the soldiers that hadn't been assigned to accompany the Marauder on his mission to secure the Moon Stone were now out on patrol. "We can't spare any more troops. Simply send word to those who are already out on patrol. I doubt they're a threat, but… our leader wouldn't appreciate it if we were to take any risks…"
He and the woman both shivered at that, and she nodded.
"Understood, sir. All patrolling units will be mobilized immediately."
/
Ash Ketchum had the worst luck.
At least, that's what it was starting to seem like, at any rate.
Quickly recalling everybody except for Pikachu and Eevee, he and Misty had bolted the moment the other four soldiers had arrived on the scene, Pikachu and Eevee quickly launching attacks to keep the soldiers at bay and give the group a head start. They hadn't even paid attention to which tunnel of the caverns that they had bolted into, nor did they even remotely care.
Ash was afraid that they would send some sort of speedy Pokemon to intercept them, but no such Pokemon came. Had he been in a better state of mind, he would have recalled what the previous Team Rocket soldier had said earlier, about exhausting all of their stronger Pokemon.
Right now, all he was focused on was remaining alive and well. The adrenaline pumping through his body carried him across the tunnels as he and Misty ran side by side, the normally temperamental girl in a similar mood of panic as her feet pounded against the rocky floors.
As they approached a branching path, Ash and Misty gaped in horror as they saw two more soldiers running out of one of the tunnels. The group made a quick beeline for the second tunnel, now sure where it would take them.
One soldier successfully managed to seize Ash's collar from behind, prompting a shriek of terror from Misty. A painful Iron Tail from Pikachu had sent the man flying backwards (probably with shattered ribs), as Misty latched onto Ash as quickly as she could, the boy falling backwards for a brief moment before his new friend grabbed him and pulled him back up, sparing him a hard collision with the rocky floors of the caverns.
More running. More panicking. More shouting from the soldiers in hot pursuit.
There was no end goal in sight. Just a desperate attempt to stay out of the reach of their assailants as long as they possibly could. How long would that last?
"COCKSUCKERS!" Misty's voice assaulted Ash's ears with its sheer volume, and, had it not been for his completely panicked state of mind, the young boy probably would have been totally floored to hear such language from somebody of his age group.
The young boy kept his gaze up ahead in the seemingly endless labyrinth of tunnels. No reprieve in sight. Just more running and panicking. The group was doomed. What else?
The two trainers could hear the shouts of the soldiers as their longer, adult legs carried them across the tunnel, rapidly closing the distance between themselves and the children that they were pursuing. A Machop had been sent out by one of the new soldiers, and had taken the bullet when Pikachu fired a quick Thunder Shock towards the approaching soldiers in an effort to stall them.
The electricity from the attack had provoked a wail of pain from the Fighting Type Pokemon. Now with the knowledge of Thunderbolt, Pikachu was able to put extra strength into his Thunder Shock attack much more easily, without needing to charge it up for as long as he used to.
Machop was resilient, however, and although it sank to its knees initially after being struck with the electrical blast, it was soon back on its feet, attempting to catch up with the Team Rocket soldiers, who quickly found themselves scattering frantically in response to a second Thunder Shock from Pikachu, and a Bubble Beam from Piplup, who Misty had sent back out in an effort to drive off the tenacious attackers.
A bird Pokemon that Misty had apparently recognized as a Murkrow emerged from a Poke Ball that another soldier had removed from their belt, and the new Pokemon shrieked horrifically as it made a mad rush for the duo of trainers, a Shadow Ball appearing in its open beak as it closed in.
As Piplup fired a trail of Bubble Beam at the approaching soldiers in an effort to keep them at bay, Pikachu intercepted the Murkrow and slammed it in the face with Zap Tail just before the bird Pokemon could fire. While the Murkrow was still reeling from the blow, Eevee pelted it with Swift.
This suddenly gave Ash an idea. Swift was a move that could lock onto opponents and make it easier for the user to hit their target. Although Eevee wasn't perfect with the move, it could certainly prove useful in this situation.
"Eevee, use Swift on them!" he pointed forward. In response, Eevee turned her attention to the approaching Team Rocket soldiers as Pikachu rushed the falling Murkrow, body coated in spark.
Two of the six soldiers were in the process of removing a Poke Ball from their respective belts as the golden stars erupted from Eevee's mouth and sailed through the air towards them. The grunts yelped in shock as the stars were suddenly upon them. Although most attempts to avoid the onslaught were successful, the stars exploded on the ground near their feet, the shockwaves doing the rest of the work and knocking four of the soldiers off balance, two of which were the ones who had attempted to take out Poke Balls, which slipped out of their hands and rolled across the rocky floor of the tunnels. One soldier hit their head on a nearby rock as they fell, leaving him dazed and with a serious throbbing pain in his head as his vision instantaneously blurred. The other three were left with painfully twisted ankles. A fifth soldier actually was struck by one of the stars, but was righted by the sixth soldier, who grabbed onto his comrade to prevent him from falling as the attack left him wheezing in pain.
This action left both of the two remaining soldiers wide open, however, and a sudden Bubble Beam from Piplup was frantically avoided by both of them, trying to dodge in separate directions. The soldier who had gotten hit by the Swift, however, was still reeling from the blow, not used to taking hits from Pokemon moves (but still not seriously injured due to it only being just one star), and lost his balance immediately. Although he caught himself with his hands, feeling a sharp pain as the force of his fall pressed his palms against the hard surface of the floor, a Shadow Ball from Eevee exploded nearby, the impact flinging him away from the shockwaves and leaving his back to collide with the ground with a painful THUD.
The other soldier also caught himself with his hands, but a Thunder Wave from Pikachu left him spasming on the ground.
With all six soldiers now on the ground, Ash felt Misty's hand roughly clasp onto his shoulder as she bluntly pulled him forward.
"They're down! Come on everyone!"
Not one to argue with that, Ash took off into a sprint as the orange haired girl led the way, Pikachu and Eevee both hot on their tails, and Piplup only sparing a single moment to glance back and ensure that the Team Rocket soldiers were all still down.
As the group bailed as quickly as their bodies allowed them too, Machop finally caught up and stopped amidst the fallen Team Rocket soldiers, looking around in concern.
One Team Rocket soldier, struggling to his feet as he reeled from the pain of his twisted ankle, pointed off in the direction that the group had ran off too.
"Machop, Murkrow… go after them, hurry!"
A quick nod was offered by the Fighting Type Pokemon in response, before it ran forward. Coming across Murkrow, it stopped briefly to survey the condition of the fallen bird Pokemon.
Murkrow's body was badly beaten, the injured bird Pokemon struggling to rise up as it pointed its wing forward, signaling for Machop to go on ahead.
Reluctantly, the Fighting Type Pokemon complied, rushing off to catch up with the retreating group. Behind it, Murkrow finally managed to rise into the air, flapping its wings weakly as it attempted to fly off in pursuit of the travelers.
The bird would never quite catch up, however, collapsing from exhaustion and pain just a minute or two later.
/
"WHAT?!" Cyan's voice was livid and horrified.
"I'm sorry, sir!" came the soldier's voice from the other end of the receiver. "They just caught us off guard and got away! We sent a couple of our Pokemon after them, but-"
"How the hell is this so difficult for you?!" Cyan demanded as he tried to ignore his increasingly rapid heartbeat. "We're trying to tear down the Indigo League for crying out loud! Aren't you well equipped enough to handle a couple of damn rookie children?!"
"We've been here for a while, sir!" came the reply. "And most of our stronger Pokemon have already exhausted themselves fighting some of the more powerful trainers that we took hostage after coming here! And all of the strongest Pokemon within our group have all been taken by the Marauder's squadron to secure the Moon Stone. We're all running on low juice right now."
Cyan snarled, yet sighed in acceptance. "You're right. Keep me posted." hanging up, he placed the device next to him as he sank into his chair before sighing deeply, pressing his palm firmly against his face as he did so.
It was supposed to be a simple procedure. Raid Mt. Moon. Gather up all of the trainers traveling through the area before any of them could alert the authorities, confiscating all of their Pokemon in the process. Send an elite squadron of soldiers led by the Iron-Masked Marauder in order to secure the Moon Stone. Maybe "simple" was the wrong word for it, but "efficient" would probably be a good way to describe it. It certainly wasn't supposed to be difficult.
And in the beginning, things had gone quite easily for them. Obviously they were met with resistance, but any and all trainers that they had encountered were captured before the League could be contacted. They had several soldiers on patrol throughout the mountain in order to round up any stragglers.
Mt. Moon was under their control. At least, it was supposed to be. Cyan highly doubted that these two children could do much of anything to jeopardize the mission currently at hand, but that was not the Iron-Masked Marauder's way of thinking.
Their squad leader's orders were absolute, and Cyan wasn't going to risk provocation of whatever… punishment awaited them on the off chance that these two children actually did manage to interfere.
"Sir…" a soldier approached him cautiously, earning a neutral gaze from Cyan. "Are we really sure that a couple of children pose that much of a threat to us? It's not like they're going to be going down into the depths of the mountain, and even if they do, there's no way they'd be strong enough to stop-"
"That's not the point." the soldier flinched as Cyan caught him off with a raised hand. "We're supposed to have this place under total lockdown, and if those two kids manage to escape and get a hold of the League…" he grumbled. "Our squad leader is not to be trifled with. You can't go anywhere in the criminal underworld without hearing tall tales about how ruthless he is. Thing is, in this line of work, a lot of those tall tales are probably true. If we perform anywhere under his satisfaction, it's bad news for all of us. I think I'd rather be imprisoned by the League."
The soldier grimaced, his face contorting in anxiety. "What exactly would he do?"
"Who knows? He's one of those people who is willing to do pretty much anything. Moral code usually isn't a factor in his way of thinking. That's why we have to play by his rules." Cyan looked off to the side, not making eye contact with his subordinate.
'Otherwise I'll probably be the one who ends up paying the price.' he thought bitterly to himself.
/
The group stopped to catch a quick breather after several more minutes of nonstop running in the tunnels. Their lungs all appreciated the quick break, but their brains wouldn't stop shouting at them to continue to flee.
Gasping a bit as he tried to take in as much air as possible, Ash pressed his back to a wall and glanced at Misty, who had Piplup by her side. Pikachu and Eevee were by his.
"You think they're still after us?" he bit his lips nervously.
Misty's face was sullen. "Who knows how many of them are here? And now we've lost the main path while running from them. I don't even know where we are in these damn tunnels."
She was gritting her teeth, snarling ferociously in frustration, but her eyes were filled with terror. They were trapped in the labyrinth caverns of Mt. Moon with a group of terrorists pursuing them.
Do they keep moving and risk running into more soldiers? Or do they stay put and risk the soldiers coming to them? It was dumb luck that let them survive the previous chase, and nothing more.
Ash wanted to keep running. To at least have a chance at escaping the mountain. Waiting around carried the same amount of risk as moving away, and at least moving away carried the slim possibility of them stumbling upon an exit by some pure miracle.
But his chest hurt. His legs were sore. His feet were sore. He wanted to sit down. To never run again. To just lean against this wall and put his head up, close his eyes, and think relaxing thoughts. Or maybe even not think at all. Either way, he just wanted to rest his muscles.
That was what his body wanted. But his brain wanted the opposite. To run. To find a way out of this damn mountain and never return. To never see Team Rocket ever again.
Fatigue clashing with self preservation. Exhaustion growing in the face of waning adrenaline.
Eying Misty, he wondered if she was in similar turmoil. The normally hot headed girl had her usual aggression in her mannerisms, but her breathing was just as hard as his, and there was a hint of paleness in her face.
Pikachu looked like he could still run. He was used to this. Piplup and Eevee both seemed to be on their last reserves, however.
He couldn't hear any soldiers or Pokemon at the moment, so they should be safe. But for how long? They could come bursting in at any minute. Right now, they were near the entry point to one of the many branching tunnels in the caverns.
Forcing himself to start moving again, Ash pushed himself off of the wall and eyed the group frantically.
"We should really go. If we don't we could-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Misty cut him off. "Once we get out of here and contact the authorities, I'm taking a shower."
Talking about what she was going to do after escaping from the mountain was Misty's way of trying to reassure herself that she would ever be escaping the mountain period. But Ash didn't pick up on that.
Suddenly, Pikachu's ears erected upwards, and he let out a cry as something burst through the entrance to the tunnel.
"GAH! What's that?!" cried Ash.
Stepping out of the shadows was the same Machop that had chased them before. It crossed its arms in an attempt to appear authoritative as it sized the group up, a neutral expression on its face that conveyed no happiness or anger. As though it didn't care which side it was on.
Pikachu growled as he rushed forward and placed himself in between Machop and the group, cheeks sparking madly as the young mouse grinded his teeth.
Sinking into a fighting stance, Machop prepared itself.
Ash grimaced. They would have to fight after all. Oh well.
"Pikachu, let's end this quickly!"
Nodding at his Trainer, Pikachu shot forward towards his opponent.
Machop responded in kind.
The electric mouse was clearly faster, striking at the Fighting Type Pokemon with a metallic tail just before his opponent could react.
Machop reeled from the blow as it skidded backwards, glaring at Pikachu as it managed to stay upright before charging forward again.
Pikachu leapt over a kick from the Fighting Type before delivering a well-placed Brick Break to his opponent's cheek, prompting Machop to stumble forward. A second Iron Tail was met with a mighty punch that pushed Pikachu back towards the group, the mouse sinking down onto all fours as he snarled at his adversary, cheeks sparking in an effort to look as intimidating as possible.
Ash and Misty immediately distanced themselves from the fighting as Eevee and Piplup both took their places besides Pikachu, although the young mouse remained slightly in front.
"Misty," Ash said quickly, slightly turning his head in her direction, while still attempting to keep his eyes on the Pokemon. Misty responded in kind. "Pikachu should be fast enough to engage Machop directly. Eevee can give him cover from a distance. You think Piplup can do the same?"
A quick nod from Misty. "We'll try to keep it on the defensive." she replied.
Both trainers turned their attention completely back to the battle, where Machop was already getting ready for its next move.
Ash and Misty both blinked rapidly as Machop's body suddenly glowed a deep orange. Letting out a low, ominous rumble from its throat, the Fighting Type raised its arms outwards as its muscles suddenly bulged, pulsating with power across its entire body.
Bulk Up. A move that bolstered the power of a Pokemon's muscles, the boost to the Pokemon's brute strength being a massive boon for their offense and durability. Which meant that Machop had just become a hell of a lot more difficult to put down.
But that just raised the question of whether or not Machop could maintain the technique for long before needing to drop it. There was a reason why moves that powered up the user weren't universally used in battles, despite the obvious boons that they granted for the user. Almost all of them had some sort of drawback or strain to them, powering up the user to levels that their body was not actually at yet.
Making good use of its new leg strength, Machop rushed forward, raising a glowing, purple fist as it barreled over towards Pikachu.
Locking onto the young mouse with Poison Jab, the Fighting Type Pokemon was most certainly putting its newfound strength to good use. But Pikachu quickly leapt away as his adversary attempted to sock him, leaving the Machop wide open to a Bubble Beam from Piplup, which sent the bulky opponent staggering backwards as the watery barrage hit it the face, grunting irritably as the attack painfully pelted it.
"Piplup!" Misty called out. "Support Pikachu from behind! Keep attacking from a distance!"
"You too, Eevee!" Ash declared. "Use Swift!"
Just as Machop was upright again, Eevee's golden stars pelted against its chest. As the Fighting Type staggered backwards, Pikachu was upon it again, Zap Tail at the ready as he struck Machop clean on the head.
Machop wailed in agony As Pikachu relentlessly pushed the electric tail firmly against its head, the electricity from the tail being driven into Machop's head further and further as the young mouse kept up his assault.
Not wanting to give Machop a chance at recovery, Misty quickly followed up. "Water Pulse!"
As Pikachu gave Machop one final, rough push that sent the Fighting Type staggering away, Piplup took aim at the opponent as it struggled to maintain its footing. The deep, blue orb of glowing water that formed in between the penguin's wings was flung towards Machop at full force, splashing against the bulky adversary and knocking it clean off of its feet.
Machop regained its bearings just in time, catching itself on its hands before it could hit the ground, but Eevee was already charging up a Shadow Ball. To Ash's chagrin, however, Machop quickly lurched itself upwards in time to avoid the attack, which exploded against the stone wall. The windforce from the shockwaves of the blast blasted a series of dust that collided with the Fighting Type's back, Machop standing tall as it bared its fists at the group, the dust almost acting as a backdrop.
Pikachu launched a Thunder Shock at the bulky Fighting Type, but Machop raised a fist, now glowing with electricity, and intercepted the attack.
Thunder Punch. Machop hadn't used it to block Pikachu's electricity during the frantic chase, but with things more focused now, perhaps it was easier for the Fighting Type to come up with the idea.
Pikachu gritted his teeth irritably as the electricity from his own attack strengthened that of the Machop's, the lightning radiating off of the Fighting Type Pokemon's fist now much more intense than before. As Machop charged forward, pikachu responded in kind, rushing the bulky Pokemon at full speed and driving a powerful Zap Tail into Machop's gut.
Making good use of its durability from Bulk Up, Machop, despite wheezing in pain, attempted to push forward against the force of the attack, increasing its pain further as he leaned into the electrical tail in an attempt to sock Pikachu with its fist of lightning. The water that Machop's body was soaked in from Piplup's attacks was no doubt making this even worse, but the Fighting Type was ludicrously resilient as it adamantly braved its way through the excruciating pain.
A grimacing Ash was quickly reminded of the ending of Pikachu's fight with Paul's Elekid back in Pewter City. Elekid had also powered through Pikachu's attack in order to deal a devastating blow.
Thankfully, a Swift from Eevee forced Machop backwards as the golden stars pelted against its face. The electricity in Machop's fist dissipated as the Fighting Type Pokemon held an open palm against its gut in pain, growling angrily in Pikachu's direction as its hand clutched the sore wound.
If Machop kept taking more damage like this, it would likely get worn out from having to maintain Bulk Up while simultaneously dealing with the pain. As its body sustained damage, it would become harder and harder to handle the move without wearing itself out, becoming completely exhausted as all of its energy dried out. At that point in time, it would be forced to either drop Bulk Up entirely, or go for broke and attempt to finish the fight quickly before completely exhausting itself entirely.
When Ash voiced this to Misty, she simply nodded. "Right, we need to keep hammering away at it until it drops." the look in her eyes was still scared, much like Ash's, but there was a noticeable fire in them that Ash's lacked. "It doesn't seem to have any ranged moves, so maybe Pikachu should widen the gap between them too?"
Ash nodded at that, watching Pikachu dodge a flaming fist from their opponent before driving an Iron Tail into Machop's stomach, right where the wound was. The young boy winced a bit as the Fighting Type Pokemon cried out in agony, its wailing suddenly cut off as it was blasted with Eevee's Shadow Ball. Just before Piplup's Bubble Beam could strike it, however, it moved to the side and narrowly avoided the onslaught.
"Good idea." he raised his voice. "Pikachu! Back up buddy, real quick!"
Pikachu's ears perked up at the change in strategy, and quickly leapt away as Machop attempted to strike the young mouse with a now icy fist. The frozen punch struck nothing but air as Pikachu scampered away, stopping in between Eevee and Piplup and glaring at Machop on all fours, cheeks sparking dangerously.
Machop was certainly stronger than any of the other three Pokemon currently fighting it, but that meant very little if it couldn't land a hit. Just one blow from the Fighting Type would probably be devastating, causing serious injury that would cripple the combatant that was on the receiving end for the remainder of the battle.
Thankfully, Pikachu's evasiveness and the long distance assaults from Eevee and Piplup to further keep the Fighting Type at bay had made this a non issue.
Now, it was just time to finish it up.
"Icy WInd!" Misty called out.
Piplup's open beak unleashed a gust of frozen air as Machop raised its arms defensively. The Fighting Type Pokemon was forced to look away, wincing loudly as the sharp, unforgivingly cold air assaulted its skin. The water soaking its skin from previous attacks was beginning to freeze over.
Ash saw his chance. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Normally, Thunderbolt would take longer to charge. Pikachu had not yet gotten a full grip on the powerful Electric Type Move. But with Machop occupied with Icy Wind, Pikachu was left with as much time as it needed to gather the electricity in his cheeks.
With a loud cry, Pikachu's body erupted in lightning as the golden bolt sailed towards Machop, rocketing into the Fighting type's body and bathing it in merciless static.
Machop screamed in pain, not just from the strength of the bolt, but from the sudden contrast from the freezing cold Icy Wind that left its skin unbearably cold, to the sudden, extreme heat of the Thunderbolt, mercilessly burning against the Fighting Type's now excruciatingly cold skin. The water on its body only added to the pain, making an already unbearable attack even worse, as though rubbing salt on a wound.
As the attack subsided, Pikachu exhaled deeply, and Ash could see his Starter Pokemon breathing a bit hard. They would have to work on Thunderbolt later, but at the very least, the young mouse was clearly capable of using the technique without completely exhausting himself, even if it was very clearly a taxing move for the small rodent to pull off. At the current moment, anyway.
Turning his gaze towards Machop, Ash grimaced as the Fighting Type steadfastly remained standing. Although it panted in exhaustion with its hands on its knees, its muscles mostly returned to normal, and its body bruised, burnt, and beaten with sparks of static rolling across it, it still refused to sink to the floor. A tenacious opponent for sure.
But Misty wasn't having any of it. "Still standing up, huh? Well I've reached my limit with you!" pointing at the penguin , she glowered at the wounded Fighting Type. "Put it down with Aerial Beak!"
Piplup nodded, before raising his head highly. His beak glowed a bright white as it seemingly grew in both length and sharpness. Kicking off of the ground, Piplup's body became enveloped in that same bright, white light as he sailed through the air and towards Machop.
Charging forward with Aerial Ace, Piplup drove his Peck right into Machop's forehead, the Fighting Type Pokemon not even having time to cry out in pain as it was blasted off of its feet, blood spraying from the spot where Piplup had struck, and landed on its back with an unceremonious thud. As Piplup landed gracefully on the stony ground, he looked over to his opponent, who was not getting up.
A wide grin developed on Misty's face momentarily before she suddenly returned to her nervous, uneasy expression.
"Ash, we need to get out of here. We don't know if this battle attracted any of their attention or not."
Ash quickly nodded in understanding.
/
Pikachu had been fed a quick oran berry before the group took off again, the young mouse's stamina rejuvenated. Machop's unconscious body was left at the sight of the battle, and thankfully, no other soldiers or Pokemon had arrived to attack them before they could make their escape.
Ash and Misty were both still fighting against exhaustion, but had mercifully decided to stick to jogging. It was still taxing in their fatigue states, but wasn't nearly as immediately excruciating as a full blown sprint would have been.
The group had no idea where they were going. No idea where the main path was, how deep they were in the caverns, or even what level that they were currently at in general. All of that had been completely lost in the sheer panic of the initial chase, and Ash cursed himself for not paying attention.
He didn't know it, but Misty was currently feeling the same exact way as well.
Although he tried to convince himself that it couldn't be helped, and that they were both bound to lose their focus in the chase, the repercussions of such still certainly didn't bode well for any of them.
The group of five were lost in the tunnels, and who knew when they'd run into somebody next? And whether or not it would be even stronger than that Machop?
Although he kept an eye out for soldiers and Pokemon, Ash wasn't too sure how vigilant he could be while simultaneously trying to move.
What's more, the boy found his growing exhaustion clashing with said efforts to be vigilant, his mind constantly shifting focus to how much his body wanted to stop moving.
The boy told himself to keep running, but how long could he keep that mindset up?
It all felt so hopeless.
Even so, an optimistic voice in his brain wanted to tell him that it was over. And that they had gotten away.
Nevertheless, he knew that was too good to be true for sure.
The tunnels in this mountain were seemingly endless. Ash didn't know if it was the paranoia of Team Rocket lurking within the caverns and probably searching for them, or just the simple fact that there was still no end in sight, but he felt as though he was completely closed off from the world. As though Mt. Moon was an entirely different place from the world that he lived in.
And that might have added to the hopelessness that he was feeling. Not even in Viridian Forest had he ever felt this separated from civilization. From the world itself. It added to the fear he had developed for these seemingly endless caverns. And it ultimately added to his desperation to escape.
Slightly ahead of him was Misty, as he had begun to slow down a tiny bit in an attempt to hopefully conserve energy.
"Ash, I think the tunnel is opening up into a room up ahead-"
The group skidded to a halt at the entrance to the room, a group of Team Rocket soldiers standing in front of them.
The soldier in front of the rest seemed quite irritated, and stressed.
"Damnit…" said Cyan. "So they stumbled they're way here, now."
Misty's face was pale as she stepped backwards, at Ash's side now, while Pikachu uneasily glared at the soldiers in front of them, cheeks sparking mad with lightning.
"So… we walked right into their camp…" she whimpered out.
Ash felt like he might vomit. This whole time, he had been desperate to escape from the caverns of Mt. Moon, and now, they had just done the opposite.
They had effectively just delivered themselves right to Team Rocket. He felt truly sick.
Standing in front of the soldiers, Cyan glowered uneasily at the duo of trainers.
"Well, you two made it easy for us, and you're clearly tired of running. Are you ready to cooperate yet?"
Misty did her best to snarl. "No way!" as she stammered with a combination of fear and rage, her hand shot to her belt. "You bastards are just going to strip away our Pokemon and use us as hostages when the authorities get here! I'm not some bargaining tool!"
"You really don't know what you two are getting yourselves into, kids." Cyan's hand reached for his own belt as he allowed his gaze at them to even. If only you knew what our squad leader was like, you'd be jumping to become a prisoner in place of the alternative." The Poke Ball that he removed from his belt enlarged as he gripped it firmly in his palm. "Quite frankly, I don't care if you get hurt or not. My condition is what's going to be critical if he ends up being dissatisfied. I'm not letting my own well being go to risk just because a couple of brats decided to do things the hard way."
Ash's eyes narrowed at that. Squad leader? This guy sounded scared of whoever was leading the operation. Speaking of which…
"What are you even doing here?" Ash blurted out, trying to sound demanding. Given the man's sneer, he had failed in that department.
"Quite trying to sound tough, half-pint. Didn't I just tell you I can't take any risks? You won't get any meaningful information from me." he reared his hand back, preparing to throw. "Now then, hold still. This is your last chance."
A Golbat appeared in the air before them. Zubat's Evolved form.
Looking around the room, Ash realized that there was a lot more space here than most of the tunnels. There should be enough for Nebula to comfortably fly around…
The Staravia appeared in front of him, along with Valiant. The two Pokemon nodded uneasily upon seeing their company.
Beside him, Misty released the rest of her team.
Ash felt his heart racing as the rest of the soldiers sprang into action, filling the room with Zubat.
/
Outside of Mt. Moon, the sky was becoming engulfed in gray clouds, a light drizzle beginning to descend from the sky as a large group made their way out of the Pokemon Center on the other side.
Cerulean City was just a distance away from that Center.
About twenty adults in Indigo League uniforms formed the group as they gathered near the entrance to the mountain. Their facial expressions were hardened, but clear. An air of professionalism to them as they prepared to enter it.
At the front of the group was a tall, young woman with long silverish hair. The Weavile at her side was running its claws together in an absentminded manner, as though they weren't even on a mission.
The woman gazed into the entrance to the caverns for a brief moment before turning to her group.
"We are lucky that one of Team Rocket's grunts leaked this operation to us during interrogation." she sighed. "They will be heading deep into the caverns. We'll move quickly, but with the number of trainers likely in the mountain we'll probably be dealing with a hostage situation."
Her face was a bit grim. She certainly wasn't the most serious person compared to her peers, but knowing the potential stakes of the mission was fairly easy for her.
She was so strong as a trainer, that it was sometimes easy to forget that she was younger than everyone in the squad that she was leading today. They certainly didn't look at her in such a way. To them, she was a powerful trainer beyond description, an absolute terror to go up against or even witness. And for those reasons, her age was barely even considered by those who answered to her and her orders. An irrelevant factor compared to everything else about her.
No different from any other member of the Elite Four.
"Do we know exactly where we are going, Karen?" spoke one of the soldiers. His voice conveyed nothing but obedience. Absolute recognition of the young woman's much earned ranking.
Karen nodded. "We have our instructions for how to get to the Moon Stone. With any luck, we can take the quickest path to the Moon Stone and intercept Team Rocket before they can reach it. Either way, we'll need to move swiftly." With that, she turned around, focusing all of her attention on the entrance to the cavern in front of her as her silverish hair swayed with her motions. Weavile did the same. The soldiers all prepared themselves without any comments. "It's time."
Next Chapter: Unforgiving Encounter
