Chapter 4

Even though the Viridian Forest was long and similar to a maze, at least it was all flat, spongy ground cushioned by leaves, pine needles, and grass. Trekking up towards Mt. Moon, however, was working muscles Ash didn't even know he had in his legs. A tough, rocky terrain that slowly went uphill was what met them after Pewter City. And with their destination always in view because of how tall the mountain was, it seemed like they were constantly getting nowhere fast.

His new traveling companion, the previous Pewter City Gym Leader, Brock, wasn't fazed at all, as he seemed used to this kind of terrain. This didn't surprise Ash at all, since the older boy grew up in Pewter City. Completely different from the Gym Leader he fought in Pewter City and earned the Boulder Badge from, Brock was actually a very nice guy. He only would put up a front when battling other Trainers to give himself a more authoritative and intimidating aura. But taking care of his brothers and sisters gave him a motherly quality which Ash noticed as soon as they spent their first night camping, as Brock was able to cook them a full meal despite being out in the woods.

"So Brock, what have you heard about Mt. Moon anyway?" Ash asked as he clutched the straps to his backpack.

"People say that a huge meteor crashed into the mountain back in prehistoric times."

"A meteor..."

"The meteor is called the Moon Stone."

"Wow..." Ash muttered. Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by a scream of terror. The sound of someone else's voice other than theirs surprised them, and they quickly ran up to see what the issue was. The ground finally leveled out, and near the mouth of a cave, a scruffy-looking man wearing a lab coat was crouched down with his hands over his head protectively. A flock of blue bat-like Pokémon were screeching over him, and diving down at him one by one and taking nips out of him. "It's a bunch of Zubat!" Retrieving his Pokédex from his pocket, he scanned them with it as he flipped open the cover. "Dexter, analyze!"

"Zubat. Flying Pokémon with supersonic powers. Zubat live in caves and hate to fly outside in daylight."

"Not these Zubat," the Pallet boy commented, and put away his Pokédex. Twisting his hat backwards, he replaced the Pokédex with a Poké Ball and reared his arm back. "Squirtle, I choose you!" The ball left his fingers and opened along the center in midair. A flow of energy came out from the inside, and condensed together to form the Tiny Turtle Pokémon.

"Squirt!"

"Squirtle, Water Gun!"

"Squirtle!" His Pokémon responded in midair, and not skipping a beat, swallowed a deep gulp of air and blew out a spiral of water. The blast of water knocked the Zubat through the air, and Squirtle was able to hit them all with a twist of its head. They all screeched in shock, and scattered back into the mouth of the cave where they were swallowed up by the darkness.

As Squirtle descended from its leap, Ash caught it, and with the Pokémon still in his arms, he quickly rushed over to the man who was twitching on the ground, his arms now fallen limply at his side with the attack over. "Are you okay?" the Pokémon Trainer asked, but then flinched back once the man shot up like a rocket with his arms wide open.

"Wow!" He suddenly wrapped his arms around Ash and pulled him into a tight squeeze as tears of happiness flowed down the man's face behind his large glasses. "You guys are the greatest!"

"R-really, it was nothing!" Ash said, struggling to breath with his face pressed against the man's skinny stomach.

"I'm talking superfantabulistic! I'm talking two thumbs up! Way up! The best rescue I've ever had!" The man continued to pull Ash closer to him in the tight embrace, almost like he was trying to absorb him into his body, but poor Squirtle – who was in Ash's arms at the time of the embrace – was now being squished between the two. Having enough of this, it pulled its head into its shell and shot a Water Gun straight up into the air. The water blasted past their faces, and they both sputtered and choked at the sudden lack of oxygen before Squirtle stopped, their hair now dripping and soaked to their faces.

The two reeled back, trying to recover and get their breath back, and while Ash was more used to getting blasted by water than the other man – presumably, of course – it didn't take him any time to bounce back, shaking the water from his face like an animal and smiling down at him. "They say man's best friend is a Pokémon, and with you two, I believe it!" he said, adjusting his glasses and wiping the droplets from the glass.

"Uh, that's nice."

"I'm so moved!" the man in the lab coat continued, spinning on his heel and looking at the sky as he began to recite. "Such friendship I thought I'd never see, when the Zubat began attacking me. I thought I was done for, but who should arrive? Two heroes, thanks to whom I've alive." Opening his arms wide, he dramatically looked straight up into the sky and knelt down. "I'M ALIVE! Thank you so much! Thank you!" Ash and Brock exchanged confused glanced with each other when he stood back up and clutched Ash's gloved hands into his own. "Did I mention how grateful I am?"

"Yeah," Ash muttered, still trying to wrap his head around the eccentric man. "Um, anyway, why were the Zubat attacking you, mister?" The man gasped and flinched back, as if Ash had called him a terrible name, and then got inches away from his face so their noses were almost touching.

"Never call me mister! My name's Seymour! Seymour the scientist!" Jumping back, he began to pose in different ways with each word. "Knowledge. Research. I'm Seymour the scientist!" He ended by pointing his finger to the sky, his glasses reflecting the sunlight above, and Ash and Brock exchanged another look before the man ushered them into the mouth of the cave. Hesitant at first, Ash recalled Squirtle back into its Poké Ball and they headed inside, though Brock stuck behind to tie his shoe lace.

But, much to Ash's surprise, it wasn't pitch-black as he thought it would be. In fact, it was actually bright in there, due to the string of lights mounted into the cave walls on each side. "See, the cave is all lit up inside," Seymour explained as Brock caught up with them and the two Trainers followed him down the path, noting the fact that this indeed wasn't normal. "Somebody has strung these lights through the whole cave. But the Pokémon in this cave need the dark. These lights are upsetting them and making them confused."

"Which is probably why the Zubat left the cave and attacked you," Brock deduced. Further up, the main path gave way to a large clearing, and in the corner, Seymour gestured to a group of scarlet Pokémon with multiple legs and pointed claws, and they were taking these claws to pluck the red and yellow-spotted mushrooms off their backs and planting them into the ground.

"Look here. These Paras are planting their mushrooms everywhere!" On the other side of the clearing, a lone Pokémon rotund in shape and had a golden brick pattern all on its back and head lay on its stomach, looking pitifully exhausted. "And the hot lights are drying up these Sandshrew. That's why I'm here; on patrol to protect the mountain from the troublemakers' attack against these caves."

"But why attack a whole cave?" Ash questioned, giving a saddened look at the Sandshrew as they continued onward.

"I'm afraid it's because of the Moon Stone," Seymour answered, stopping and turning to face the pair with a frown.

"The Moon Stone?"

"Exactly," Seymour nodded, and then raised a hand in the air while clutching the buttoned-up light blue shirt he wore underneath his lab coat and began to recite another poem. "The Moon Stone is an awesome boulder, a million years old or even older! Deep in these caves the meteor hides, though no explorer has found the place – of the legendary rock from space!" At his foot buried in the loose dirt, a shimmering stone about as big as a Poké Ball was laying, and Seymour picked it up and pulled out a magnifying glass from the pocket of his over-sized coat to examine it closely. "We've studied its fragments for many an hour, and discovered it increases a Pokémon's power! And that is why the attackers are here! They've come to take the Moon Stone, or so I fear!"

"The Moon Stone..." Ash murmured in amazement. When Brock had been telling him the story about Mt. Moon before they arrived, he had no idea the meteor had that kind of power.

"Ever since I was a little boy, I've believed that Pokémon came to this world from outer space," Seymour said to them, giving them a smirk with his finger pointed matter-of-factually.

"From outer space?!" the two Trainers repeated at the same time.

"Yes! And where, you may ask, is the spacecraft that brought them to this world? In this cave! It's the Moon Stone." Ash and Brock weren't really sure what to say by the crazy hypothesis, but Seymour continued on without their input anyway. "But don't you see? It means the Moon Stone belongs to the Pokémon! We humans must not take it from them!" Standing with his fists raised, Seymour finally locked his eyes with Ash, and the man had a familiar gleam in his eye that said he was going to touch him again, and the black-haired boy flinched back, but the man jumped forward and snatched his hands into his own once again. "You agree with me, don't you?!"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh!" Ash answered quickly. Whatever got the man to stop touching him.

"Clefairy! Clefairy!" The tension was broke by a small pink Pokémon with a curl on its forehead and an equally curly tail behind it, and it skipped past them like an astronaut would on the moon, singing to itself with each jump. Strangely enough, it was carrying a rock that looked very similar to the one Seymour had examined earlier.

"That looks like a... Clefairy!" Brock guessed as Ash gasped and pulled out his Pokédex.

"Clefairy. This impish Pokémon is friendly and peaceful. It is believed to live inside Mt. Moon, although very few have ever been seen by humans." A grin stretched across Ash's face. A Pokémon that was hardly ever seen by humans meant it was a very rare Pokémon.

Running forward, he replaced the Pokédex in his hand with an empty Poké Ball, and pressed the button in the center to enlarge it. "Oh, I gotta catch it!"

"Y-you can't!" Seymour protested, quickly snatching up Ash's forearm with both of his clammy hands to hold the younger boy back. Ash made a sound of annoyance as the Clefairy disappeared down one of the tunnels without a second glance, and the Pokémon Trainer frowned as even its singing faded away.

"Oh..."

"Sorry, but it's best if you just let it stay here. I hope you understand," the scientist said sternly. Ash locked eyes with the man's gray ones, and he saw that he only wanted what was best for the Clefairy. Understanding this, Ash's face melted into a slight smile, and he nodded.

"Sure, Seymour. I understand."

Despite its chanting disappearing, Clefairy cried out again, but this time, it's tone of voice sounded like it was panicking. "Clefaaaaiiirrry!" Everyone's heads whipped down towards the source of the noise, and immediately took off after it.

"Don't be scared of Meowth!" a voice said in an intimidating tone, and as they emptied out into a smaller clearing from the tunnel, they saw the wild Clefairy quivering against a wall while clutching the stone it held protectively against its body. Up on a higher ledge, a cream-colored cat-like Pokémon with a golden charm on its forehead was peering down at Clefairy, its shadow from the light fixture behind it casting over Clefairy. Though it wasn't clear who the voice came from, since there was no one else in the room.

"A Meowth?!" Ash exclaimed, and the Meowth seemed to frown at them.

"Meowth," it groaned, and to their surprise, it spoke understandable words. "What are kids doin' here?"

"You don't think it was this Meowth that put up the lights, right?" the Pallet boy asked, feeling silly even asking.

"I don't think it could do all this trouble by itself."

"Trouble?" a female voice spoke up, echoing through the empty chambers.

"Make that double." This one was from a male voice, and the three looked up to see a pair of young adults, older than Brock but younger than Seymour, step out from the shadows behind Meowth. They both wore white uniforms with black gloves and boots, and large red 'R's on the front of their uniforms. Though Ash couldn't figure out from where, they looked very familiar.

"To protect the world from devastation," the woman chanted. She was holding a shovel on her shoulder.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," the young man beside her continued, holding a pick-ax similar to how she held the shovel.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie," the woman with long red hair that curled out behind her introduced, giving him a smirk with lipstick-covered lips.

"James." The man peered at them through the corners of his green eyes, barely seen past his chin-length periwinkle hair. The two raised their digging tools and crossed them above their heads.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth added, jumping in front of the pair and posing with his arms in the air.

"What are you talking about?" Ash muttered in utter confusion.

"They sure are show-offs."

"They just don't get it, do they?"

"How can we? You don't make any sense!"

"You're just jealous, boy," the girl named Jessie stated.

"Because we won't let you join us," James finished.

"I'd never join up with you!" Ash snapped back angrily.

"You put the lights in this cave!" Brock deduced. "It's your fault the Pokémon who live here are so confused!"

"What a shame," Jessie replied sarcastically.

"How will we ever forgive ourselves?" James said with equal sarcasm.

"We want to get our hands on 'da Moon Stone so we can power up our Pokémon wit' it," Meowth told them, jabbing a thumb towards itself.

"With the Moon Stone in our hands, nothing will stop us!" the dark pink-haired girl elaborated.

"We won't let you get away with it!" Ash said with determination.

"You want a rock? Take one of these, then get lost!" Brock stated sternly, gesturing a hand out to the cave floor.

"Get lost? How rude," Jessie snapped, the amused look on her face fading.

"Let's teach him manners," James suggested, and both of them dropped their digging tools on the ground and pulled out Poké Balls.

"Seymour, get away with Clefairy," Ash whispered, stepping back and pulling out a Poké Ball at what was to come. "Make a run for it when you get the chance." Before Seymour could step away, Jessie and James jumped into the air off the ledge, and hurled their Poké Balls out.

"Ready or not!" they said at the same time.

"Ekans!"

"Koffing!"

The two Pokémon burst out of their Poké Balls at the same time, forming just as the two thieves landed on the ground. The first Pokémon was a long purple snake-like Pokémon whose tail rattled intimidatingly. Beside it, a floating Pokémon with craters all over its body and a goofy grin gave a sputter as it appeared.

"Hey! Two against one! That's cheating!" Ash exclaimed, his angry voice echoing in the cave.

"Well, as we say, all's fair in love, war, and Pokémon battles," Jessie sneered, attempting to hide it behind her hand as she flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"I say that saying's rotten, and so are you!"

"Of course we are. We're the bad guys!" James reminded him.

"Well, if they're gonna use two Pokémon, I'll join you," Brock said, pulling out his own Poké Ball.

"The Pokémon League rules say only one at a time!" the novice Trainer argued.

"Ash, if you follow the rules, the Moon Stone is going to get stolen."

"You're right," Ash decided, and both of them faced forward, Ash pulling his hat backward as he did. "Pidgey, I choose you!"

"Here we go! Ah!" Both Trainers tossed their Poké Balls, and the bursts of light appeared in the air, both winged Pokémon appearing and fluttering at their opponents. Much to Ash's surprise, Brock had decided on using a Zubat, a Pokémon he hadn't seen Brock use before.

"A Zubat!"

"I captured it just before we entered the cave," Brock explained to him with a smirk on his face, and Ash's head hung.

"Oh, I should have caught one..."

"Koffing, Smog attack!" James ordered, making the first move. The floating Pokémon floated forward, and a thick black smog was produced out of the craters that spotted its body. Because of the small clearing they were in, it was quickly filling up the closed space.

"Pidgey, Whirlwind now!" Ash called.

"Zubat, double team now!" Brock copied. Both Pokémon pushed backwards to fly higher into the air, and as the toxic smoke threatened to creep up on them, they began to flap their wings with great effort, producing a wind that blew the smoke back at Team Rocket.

"What's this?" James asked before the pair were swallowed up by their own attack.

"Not bad!" Ash cheered, and then sent a glance to Seymour. Realizing the young Trainer was telling him it was his chance, Seymour and Clefairy slipped out of the other exit of the clearing. But while Ash was distracted, Ekans leapt through the smoke and chomped down on Pidgey's midsection. The Flying Pokémon gave a cry of pain as it was pulled from the air. "Oh, Pidgey!"

Besides Ekans, Koffing came barreling out of the smoke and rammed its body into Brock's Pokémon, knocking it out of the air as well. "Zubat, hang on!" His words snapped Zubat into reality, and the Bat Pokémon quickly recovered and caught itself in the air. "Go, Supersonic!" A high-pitched noise sounded out of Zubat's mouth, and orange sound waves came out of it as well, enveloping and ringing past Koffing and Ekans. The two Pokémon stared at the Zubat, their eyes getting a hazy look to them, and then suddenly, the two Pokémon turned on each other and started fighting, Ekans wrapping its body around Koffing while the Poison Gas Pokémon started producing smoke and trying to ram Ekans into the floor. Their Trainers gasped, confused as to what just happened.

"Oh, no!" James exclaimed.

"Ekans! Koffing!"

"What's the matter with you weaklings?!"

"Ekans and Koffing are getting confused!" Brock explained, and Ash jumped in, seeing his opportunity.

"Pidgey, Whirlwind now! Blow them all the way out of the cave!" Like before, Pidgey flew higher towards the ceiling, and it began to flap its wings even more harder than the first time, as it didn't have Zubat's support. The wind produced was just as much as before, if not more, and even Jessie and James struggled to stay on their feet. Their confused Pokémon, however, were too busy fighting each other to stay grounded, and still tangled in each other, rolled backwards like a tumbleweed. They were much heavier than a tumbleweed, however, and as they rolled backwards into their Trainers, they took them off their feet, and back into the small tunnel that they had first appeared in, the darkness swallowing their bodies but not their screams.

"It's time Team Rocket blasted oooooofffffff!" James cried.

"You may have won this round, but we'll be baaaack!" Jessie added, her voice growing farther away until finally their yells couldn't be heard.

"We did it!" Ash cheered as Brock raised his arm towards Ash, and the two crossed their forearms together. "Yeah!"

"Excellent teamwork!" But the time for celebration quickly dissipated when they both suddenly had the same feeling.

"Hey, wait a second. Aren't we forgetting something?"

"Yeah, something's missing," Brock agreed. And then, both of their eyes lit up as they remembered, and they raised a finger to point it out.

"Where's Meowth?!"

o 0 o

Following the tunnel that they saw Clefairy and Seymour run off through, they could quickly smell fresh air surround them as they rushed to the end. It was a nice feeling to breath in something other than the musty, stale air of the cave, but neither of them paid any attention to it as they rushed down the tunnel's bowels. Finally, the reason for smelling fresh air all became clear when sunshine was peaking through; they had reached the end of the cave they were in through a shortcut, and peeked out to see a shallow stream flowing in between the mountains.

Right away, they heard the horrified cries of Clefairy, and the two Trainers glanced at each other before leaving the mouth of the cave and following the stream down. They didn't have to follow it long before encountering them. Sitting on his knees in the middle of the river as though he had just fallen was Seymour, and clinging to his back was Clefairy, trying to protect the Moon Stone in its hand. Seymour's hands were in the air as though a gun was being pointed to him, but instead, Meowth stood on a rock in front of him, its claws poking out from its paws. "Meowth, I'm sure we can be reasonable about this," Seymour said nervously, but Meowth leapt forward.

"No, we can't!"

"Not so fast, Meowth!" Ash cried, already retrieving a Poké Ball and chucking it forward. The ball made a hollow plunk as it fell into the water, and a burst of light created a geyser of water in between Seymour and Meowth, and when the water fell, Squirtle was standing. "Water Gun, Squirtle!" Drawing in a deep breath, the Water-type blew out a blast of water. The large stream that shot from its mouth hit Meowth directly in the stomach as it cut through the air, and they could hear the sound of the wind being forcibly knocked out of its lungs, and like its fellow Team Rocket members, Meowth disappeared through the sky.

"Clefairy..." the small Fairy Pokémon muttered in amazement as it climbed down from Seymour's back and stared out at the spot where the Normal-type disappeared to.

"Hey, is everybody all right?" Ash asked as the pair caught up with them.

"We are, thanks to you!" Seymour answered, pulling himself out of the water. His clothes were sopping wet, but otherwise, he seemed in perfect health, as did Clefairy. But now that they were outside, they could see the sun was starting to set and turn the sky to amber hues. Now was as good a time as any to sit and rest for a bit, since Team Rocket had blasted off.

Finding a spot further down the canyon but still along the riverside, the group sat down on some rocks. Squirtle remained outside of its Poké Ball, and Ash brought out his Pidgey as well upon Brock's request. He also brought out his Zubat, and once he did, he retrieved a jar out from his backpack that he had placed beside him. "What's that?" Ash questioned.

"This is Pokémon food," the former Gym Leader answered as he started to hand-feed it to Zubat, the Poison and Flying Pokémon perching on his shoulder as it chewed at the brown kibble. "Made from my own secret recipe. The ingredients are specially-blended for each Pokémon." Ash took some into his hand, and looked down at the brown pellets before handing it to his Pidgey, perched on a rock beside him. The Flying-type pecked at it with the tip of its beak to taste it, but soon smiled and when Ash placed it on the rock, broke it down and ate more of it with contented coos.

"How's it taste?" Ash asked it with a smile.

"I've been developing it for years," Brock continued, and chuckled. "I keep improving on the recipe. I'll make a batch for Squirtle."

"I'll try some," Seymour offered, and grabbed a pellet from Ash's hand that he had grabbed for Pidgey to feed one at a time, and much to Ash's surprise, popped it in his mouth. "Not bad."

"Really..?" Ash muttered, looking in amazement that the man had just eaten Pokémon food. He looked down at the food in his hand in a whole new light. "Let me taste." Throwing a pellet in his mouth, he only chewed on it once before he instantly froze, his face seemingly turning blue with disgust.

"You might not like it, but the Pokémon sure do," Brock joked as Ash sputtered and choked out the Pokémon food. A silence fell over them once the food was spit out on the ground, but Squirtle and Clefairy could still be having a conversation behind them. They were sitting a little bit farther from the group since Clefairy was still pretty shy from the humans, on top of a higher boulder. Despite looking completely different and talking with only their names, the two seemed to be having an in-depth chat. All the while, Clefairy never let go of the rock in its hands.

"Squirtle makes friends so easily," Ash commented, a warm smile spread across his lips as he looked at the scene. "I wonder what they're talking about."

"Squirtle-squirt!" the Water-type said to its Trainer, suddenly standing up and gesturing to the Clefairy. Clefairy also stood up as well.

"What's up, Squirtle?" But without a word of explanation, Clefairy bounced away from the rock, and surprisingly, Squirtle followed behind it. They all stood up, and quickly gathered their strewn out supplies to follow after the pair.

The followed them for quite a while, and they traveled tirelessly up the side of the mountain, seen from the steep incline they were suddenly walking. Exhaustion quickly crept up on the three, but the two kept going until the sun went down and the moon and stars hung in the night sky. The cool night air did nothing to help Ash stay cool through all the physical activity, however, and his face was soon covered with sweat as the ends of his black hair clung to his face. "Squirtle, where in the world are you taking us?"

Finally, they reached a plateau, and Squirtle and Clefairy broke through some bushes and stared ahead, with Squirtle giving a moan of amazement. Pushing through the foliage, Ash had to squint in order to see what they were looking at through the darkness. There, in the side of the rocks, was another hole in the side of the mountain. "It's another cave!"

This one was much smaller and didn't have as many winding tunnels that led off from the main path as the first cave they went into did, but it was very hard to see anything at all, as these ones didn't have any light fixtures dug into the side from Team Rocket. As they followed the sound of Squirtle's footsteps and Clefairy's chants with each hop it took, they could soon see a light at the end of the tunnel, and when they finally reached the end, they reached a huge opening that was pretty much the whole top of the cave, but hollowed out. The top of the cave was gone, giving way to the night sky, and in the center of it on a higher-up platform, a giant stone sat that shimmered beautifully in the full moon that cast down on it.

"It's the core of the Moon Stone..!" Seymour whispered, his eyes almost as big as the boulder in front of him.

"So the Moon Stone legend is true..." Brock added quietly.

"Look, Clefairy's doing something," Ash pointed out, noticing the small, pink Pokémon approaching the Moon Stone. Climbing up on the platform, Clefairy reached up, and finally put the smaller Moon Stone fragment it had been holding so protectively in a gap of a ring of other Moon Stone fragments. Once it did, one by one, the fragments that circled the Moon Stone core began to glow a pale blue color, and once the ring was illuminated, the core did as well, seeming to light up the whole cavern. The glow was beautiful, and seemed to attract others, as they soon heard other voices echoing throughout the walls of the various tunnels that emptied out into the center clearing, and from out of the shadows, a large group of more Clefairy joined them, muttering indistinctly but smiles on their faces as their black eyes looked up at the Moon Stone.

None of them said a word as the Clefairy gathered together, and they all looked at the group of three humans. A lone Clefairy gestured its arms in the air and spoke to them. "Clefairy. Fairy fairy Clefairy!" it said, ending with a bow of its head.

"I think it's saying 'hello'!" Ash said, giving a short laugh as he glanced at Brock.

"Yeah!"

But in the time that they had this exchange, the Clefairy gathered around the Moon Stone in a ring, and soon started to orbit around it like a ring. They chanted their names, and bounced up and down when they got to a certain position while rotating like a planet. "Amazing! These Clefairy formed their own society. This is an incredible sight!" Seymour observed.

"Squirtle Squirt." Off to the side, Squirtle and the Clefairy from earlier stood, watching the scene unfold, and the two began to talk back and forth again. Curiosity getting the better of him, Ash walked up to the pair.

"Hey, Squirtle, what's Clefairy been telling you anyway, huh?" The two Pokémon turned to face him, and Squirtle began to speak, while gesturing its arms.

"Squirtle, Squirt-tle Squirtle squir-squirt."

"You understand that?" Seymour asked, a curious look coming over his scruffy face as he peered down at the Water-type.

"Of course I do. It's my Pokémon!" Ash answered, giving a shrug with a smirk that suggested Seymour was stating the obvious. He looked down at Squirtle, and watched as the Water-type gestured all around it. "The Clefairy collect all of these rocks and..." Now Squirtle stood on one foot and moved its arms up and down. "...do the Macarena!" This guess was apparently wrong, as Squirtle fell flat onto its face, and quickly stood up.

"Squirtle Squir!" it exclaimed, crossing its arms into an 'X'. Reaching out, it pulled at the Clefairy's wrist, pulling it closer to it and pointing at it with its free hand.

"The Clefairy..." And next, Squirtle lifted up the Pokémon high above its head. "...pick up?"

"A pick-up truck?" Brock spoke up, but Squirtle shook its head, and put down the Clefairy, knowing this was getting no where. It smiled, and put its hands to the ceiling. When none of them had an answer, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon leapt up and plucked a single black hair from Ash's head. While the boy flinched with pain and held the side of his head where Squirtle had plucked the strand from, Brock murmured to himself as the Water-type gestured to the hair. "With hair... Hey, how 'bout prayer?!"

"Squir-tle!" Squirtle nodded in affirmation.

"The Clefairy pray to the Moon Stone!" Ash finalized, and Squirtle gave him a thumbs-up.

"Squirt Squirtle Squirt!"

"Is it because the Moon Stone fell from the heavens?" Seymour asked once they had figured out the meaning of the circle.

"Then the Moon Stone really did come from space?" Ash answered with his own question, and Seymour suddenly gave a loud, but happy outburst and raised his own hands above his head.

"Of course! It all makes sense now!"

"What does?"

And Seymour pointed straight into the air. "Outer space!" Next, he pointed at the group of Clefairy. "Pokémon! And the human race! Will ride the Moon Stone into space! First to the moon, like a car, then together to the stars!"

"Stars?! That's our cue!" a shrill voice called from behind them, and the three turned around to see the three members of Team Rocket standing at the mouth of the cave behind them with smirks on their faces and hands on their hips.

"You guys don't know when to quit!" Ash said with his eyebrows coming together. Much to their surprise, Seymour stepped out in front of them and held his arms wide protectively.

"Y-you keep away from the Moon Stone, or else..!" Hearing the intruders and the angry words that came from the first group, the gathering of Clefairy stopped their praising, and all looked at the scene, while the Clefairy next to Squirtle, who recognized the pair of humans, covered its mouth in fright.

"Or else?" James repeated.

"I think we've been threatened," Jessie said casually.

"T-t-the Moon Stone belongs to the Clefairy, not to you troublemakers!" Seymour sputtered a bit, and though he was speaking highly, his knees shaking underneath his lab coat was very obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it seemed the three bad guys didn't even listen to Seymour, and their eyes only drifted amusingly to his feet. "L-l-l-leave this cave at once!"

"What is that unusual sound?" James asked sarcastically, closing his eyes and sticking his nose in the air.

"His knees are shaking," Jessie poked fun of him with a shrug.

"Sounds like a wimp!" Meowth added.

"I'll show you!" Seymour exclaimed, having enough of their words and fearlessly ran forward.

"Don't, Seymour!" Ash called, but his words were drowned out by Seymour giving a shrill cry that resembled a battle cry, and he ran at Team Rocket with his eyes closed. While the act itself was courageous, having his eyes closed meant that he didn't see where he was going, and also couldn't see that Team Rocket had stepped to the side, and Meowth stuck its leg out. The leg caught Seymour's foot, and the man stumbled to the cave floor in a heap.

"Heh, did you have a nice trip?" Meowth asked rhetorically with a shrug. When Seymour sat up, his glasses had fallen off his face, and without the lenses to make them bigger, his eyes almost seemed small.

"That wasn't fair!" Ash yelled at them, and the duo only whipped out Poké Balls in response.

"All's fair in a Pokémon match, boy," Jessie sang.

"Enough talk," James added.

"I agree! Let's go, Squirtle!" Ash declared, and with a point forward, Squirtle leapt past its Trainer and out onto the makeshift battlefield. Beside him, Brock lunged forward and threw his own Poké Ball.

"Onix, let's go!" The spectating Clefairy started to shake in fright simultaneously, cowering in fright as Ekans and Koffing appeared from Jessie and James's Poké Balls, and a loud roar echoed in the cavern as Onix appeared from Brock's. The two Poison-type Pokémon turned their heads up at the towering Rock Snake Pokémon, and Squirtle appeared on Onix's head, holding onto the rocky spine on the top of its head for support.

"Squirtle!"

Even Team Rocket seemed intimidated by the giant Pokémon, and though the looks on their faces were angry, there was a slight nerve behind them as well. "Let's show them that size doesn't matter," Jessie said with a clenched fist. "Ekans, underground!"

"Koffing, SmokeScreen!" James commanded beside her. In front of them, Ekans uncoiled itself and rose into the air before diving straight down, its face crashing through the rock, and its long, slender body disappearing into the hole it created. This was only seen for a split second, however, as Koffing rose into the air and started to produce a thick, green smoke from its craters.

"Koffing!"

"Squirt..tle..." Ash could hear Squirtle whine, the smoke quickly filling up both the cavern and his eyes and lungs.

"Smoke won't stop us..." Ash sputtered in between coughs from under his hand, and retrieved a second Poké Ball. "Pidgey, I choose you!" Unseen to him, the Poké Ball soared into the air, and a pop sounded, followed by Pidgey's coos and the now-empty Poké Ball landing in his hand again told Ash the Pokémon was released. "Pidgey, Whirlwind the smoke!" The only sound that could be heard beside Ash and Brock coughing were the sounds of Pidgey's wings beginning to flap with effort, and a powerful rush of wind began to spin around the cave, helping the smoke to blow out of the top of the opening. Finally, within minutes, the smoke was gone, and, much to Ash and Brock's surprise, so was Team Rocket. But that wasn't the only thing that was gone. "The Moon Stone is gone!"

Where the Moon Stone core had been, there was a huge hole in the ground, wide enough for the Moon Stone to have disappeared into, and Ash grimaced at his own stupidity. "The match was just a trick so they could sneak away with it..."

Brock peered down the hole, and then looked up at his Pokémon and pointed to the hole. "All right, Onix. Follow them underground!" Onix gave a grunt of affirmation, and like Ekans before, dove headfirst into the ground, disappearing beneath its own hole.

Not wasting any time, Ash and Brock spun on their heels and headed towards the mouth of the cave they had entered from, and with Squirtle at their feet and Pidgey flapping close behind, they rushed out. "There's still a chance to catch them!" Ash said. As they hurried out of the cave, they ran down the side of the mountain, and Team Rocket's laughs could be heard echoing through the silence of the night. Looking down, they saw the group on some kind of makeshift cart coming out of another opening, the Moon Stone core tied tightly around it. They skated down the side of the mountain, and though Ash and Brock hurried as fast as they could, they had no chance of keeping up with them. The bad guys had gravity on their side.

Suddenly, the laughter quickly turned into screams, as the whole mountain seemed to shake as Onix rose up from the ground in front of them, and with a powerful crash, they collided with the solid Rock-type Pokémon. "Got them!" Ash confirmed, the two Trainers picking up speed as they saw Team Rocket sprawled out on the ground.

"Nice work, Onix!" Brock praised while running. "Grab them, now!" Onix gave a roar and lunged forward, but the blue-haired young man shook himself out of his stupor and turned to his own Pokémon.

"Koffing, counterattack!" Without hesitation, the Poison Gas Pokémon shot at Onix like a pinball. The two Pokémon collided high in the air and struggled for dominance, but the smaller Pokémon was stronger than it looked and it ended in a stalemate. Koffing was shot back and buried itself in the ground at Team Rocket's feet while Onix gave a roar of defeat and, after recoiling backwards, crumbled to the ground with an earthshaking slam.

"Onix!" Brock moaned, horrified at seeing his ace Pokémon defeated.

Ash's eyes ran along the defeated Onix, but halfway down, they could see the hole that Onix had burst out of, and something was peeking out of it. Or, someone. "Hey, look!" Seymour, with his glasses back on, blinked in confusion as he looked around at the scene around him, and followed suit were the clan of Clefairy, all bouncing out after him. They surrounded Team Rocket, and the group of thieves all looked down at the gentle Pokémon.

"Meowth! What's goin' on?" Meowth questioned. Instead of answering it verbally, the Clefairy all stuck their fingers in the air, and began to wave them back and forth, chanting their names over and over again as they did.

"What are they doing?" Jessie asked with disgust.

"Waving their fingers...?" James answered, confusion echoing in his voice.

"'Dis way and 'dat way. 'Dis way and 'dat way." While Meowth spoke, the three and even Jessie's Ekans who was still sprawled on the Moon Stone core buried in the ground, started to follow their fingers' movements with their upper body. Even Ash and Brock found themselves doing it, and behind them, Seymour also copied their movements.

"This is an attack the Clefairy use called the Metronome," the scientist explained in time with Clefairy's chants. "I've never seen the Clefairy use the Metronome before. Who knows what'll happen?" Suddenly, the Clefairy stopped, and stood with their legs together and arms down. One by one, each of them began to glow white, and even the ground underneath them began to glow as well. After a few moments, it seemed the whole mountain began to rumble, and soon the ground under Team Rocket's feet began to crack. They hardly had any time to react before a eardrum-shattering explosion burst from the ground into the sky, knocking Ash and Brock onto their backsides and Clefairy raining down from the sky. Team Rocket, who were at the source of the attack, were shot straight into the sky.

"Well it looks like Team Rocket is..." Jessie cried.

"Blasting off again!" James finished.

"'Dat was the Metronome!" Meowth exclaimed.

"I give it two thumbs down!"

"Me, too!" James agreed.

"Meowth threeeeeee..." And with Meowth's final words, they disappeared into the sky.

Recovering from the resulting explosion, Ash and Brock stood up. There was still a ringing in their ears, but their jaws dropped at the scene before them. Where Team Rocket had stood, there was a huge crater, and unfortunately, the resulting explosion of the Metronome attack had also destroyed the Moon Stone core that the Clefairy had worked so hard to protect. "Wow..." Ash muttered in amazement.

As the dust settled, sparkling pebbles and fragments started to fall from the sky like graceful, glittering rain. They sparkled brilliantly in the glow of the full moon, and Seymour looked up in wonderment. "The Moon Stone..." he murmured. As he did, one of the fragments of it landed on a Clefairy's curl, and it started to glow, and as did the Clefairy. The glow made the Clefairy grow larger, and its wings sprouted out from behind it, and when the glow faded, a completely new Pokémon stood in its place. "Clefaaaable!" the new Pokémon sang as it appeared, and as the dust settled, some of it continued to land on more Clefairy. Brilliant glows dotted the sea of pink Normal-type Pokémon, and those who were lucky enough to get touched by a Moon Stone fragment changed shape and evolved.

"The Clefairy are..." Brock stated, and Ash pulled out his Pokédex to learn more about the new Pokémon.

"Clefable, an advanced form of Clefairy. These unique creatures are among the rarest Pokémon in the world."

"The power of the Moon Stone did this!" Seymour explained, taken aback as he looked out at the sea of Clefairy and Clefable in front of him. The pink Pokémon looked at each other, and though their object of worship had been destroyed, they didn't seem upset, and only looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

o 0 o

While the Moon Stone core had been destroyed, the Clefairy and Clefable worked tirelessly to gather up the more bigger fragments of it. Their reasoning was unknown, and Ash, Brock, and Seymour at first only looked on in confusion as they got to work. But soon, they started to travel up the mountain holding them, disappearing into the hole that Team Rocket had dug to escape with the bigger Moon Stone core, and coming back out empty-handed. It was then that it clicked together to the humans, and everyone started to help, even Squirtle and Pidgey. With Brock's command, Onix plugged up the hole Team Rocket had dug in the cavern itself with a large boulder, making it slightly raised so it resembled that platform it was originally sitting on, and with somewhere to put the Moon Stones, the Clefairy and Clefable pushed them together. It only took an hour to before a pile almost as big as the Moon Stone core was sitting on the platform, just as it had been before.

Sweaty but feeling satisfied that they were able to help the Normal-type Pokémon, Ash, Brock, and Seymour looked on as the Clefairy and Clefable began their prayer circle again. Same as before, the Clefairy made a ring around the shimmering rocks, and orbited and spun around as they chanted. The Clefable made a ring on the outside of the Clefairy, and orbited the opposite way as their pre-evolutions.

"I've decided to live here, with the Clefairy," Seymour told them, and Ash and Brock gasped at his sudden announcement, and he continued. "It's been my life's dream to find the Moon Stone. Someday, I will travel to the stars with the Clefairy."

"When you do visit outer space, I hope you'll remember to send us a postcard," Brock joked, and Ash wasn't sure if the Pewter City native was making fun of Seymour or being generally nice. And there, they stayed, watching the Clefairy do their prayer to the Moon Stone until the moon went down, and morning's light peeked upon the horizon.

Deciding to depart from Mt. Moon the next morning, Ash and Brock waved as they walked away, being seen out at the mouth of the cavern by Seymour and the clan of Normal-types. "So long, Seymour! Goodbye, Clefairy!"

"Goodbye, Ash! Goodbye, Brock! And thank you all!" Seymour called back, and they could see him and the Pokémon waving as they got smaller and smaller from view.

"Do you really think the Clefairy really came to the world from outer space?" Ash asked once they were far away enough from Mt. Moon.

"Who knows! That's one of the many mysteries of Pokémon!" Brock answered, and they both smiled as they continued on.

o 0 o

With Mt. Moon far behind them, the landscape finally became flat once again, much to the appreciation from Ash's feet, and soon enough, they reached a fork in the road. Instead of having to take out a map, a sign on the left road pointed them in the direction they wanted to go.

"'This road leads to... Cerulean City," Brock read. "Well, I guess we're heading the right way!" But before Ash could continue down, the Pokémon Breeder added, "There's something else scribbled here..."

"Yeah, well, they say some kids like to write silly notes on these signs," Ash told him matter-of-factually with his nose in the air. "What's it say?" Written in marker and scrawled in the lower right corner of the sign, the words 'GARY WAS HERE! ASH IS A LOSER!' was written out. "Gary was here?" Continuing the lower part, Ash's eyebrows quickly clashed together. "Loser?!" he exclaimed, his whole body quivering in anger. "Oh, that Gary..." Whipping around, he threw his head back and screamed to the sky, "I'LL SHOW YOOOOUUUU!" And without waiting for his friend, Ash took off into a run down the path, leaving Brock in his dust completely out of mind as he rushed to catch up with his rival, and still at the sign, Brock scratched his head with a frown drawn on his face.

"He'll never learn..."

-end-

Ash:

Party:

Squirtle (Poké Ball)

Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun

Pidgey (Poké Ball)

Moves: Gust, Sand-Attack, Whirlwind

Badges:

Boulder Badge

Brock:

Party:

Onix (Poké Ball)

Moves: Tackle, Bind, Dig

Geodude (Poké Ball)

Moves: Seismic Toss

Zubat (Poké Ball)

Moves: Whirlwind, Supersonic