Important! I do not own Pokemon nor am I associated with Nintendo or Game Freak.

Chapter 9

Mystery at Mt. Moon

Having just defeated the evil Team Rocket/Missile, and evolving Squirtle, Jason and Lexi had just made their way in to Mt. Moon, but something scary was going on!

Lexi and Jason stood staring into the huge cavernous entrance to Mt. Moon. It was dark, but there were enough lights set up all around that you could see exactly what was going on. There were more Team Rocket members in that room than Lexi and Jason have ever seen before. What was weirder was what they were doing.

Many of the Rockets were carrying bags that had rare Pokemon only found in Mt. Moon in them. Others were mining, looking for the Moon Stones. Nobody seemed to notice Jason and Lexi come in, but Lexi and Jason knew they needed to help these poor, innocent Pokemon.

Lexi released her Bulbasaur, bad idea. Before anybody knew it, everyone Rocket had released their own Pokemon. That is over 100 Pokemon versus Bulbasaur. Lexi quickly recalled it and they were off.

"Smart move," Jason said as they ran down a tunnel off to the side. The Rockets didn't seem to care that they escaped, they just went right back to their work. Jason and Lexi slowed down to catch their breath.

"I didn't know they would attack like that," Lexi said, panting.

"They're evil! What do you expect? But what are they doing here? Why are they stealing all of these Pokemon? I need answers!" Jason couldn't stop talking. He was really nervous and didn't know what else to do.

"What I want to know," Lexi said. "Is where are all of the Missile members. There were plenty outside, but none in here." She started to walk farther into Mt. Moon. "Well, the only way to get out of here is to keep moving!" She tried to act all positive, but Jason didn't buy it. He knew more danger was lurking deeper in.

They continued on, and the whole place was torn up, it seemed as if Team Rocket had already been through here. It was also getting noticeably colder as they walked in. All of sudden, however, they started hearing a weird chant, "Clefairy"

"What was that?" Lexi asked, looking around. There were no Pokemon about, but the voice seemed to be coming from very close. The two walked on, while the voice seemed to be getting fainter and fainter. "We have to find that Clefairy!" Lexi said.

"Let it go," Jason said. "It's not hurting us in any way, so why are you obsessed with it? Let's keep going." He went on, leaving Lexi behind. She had no clue what to do. She wanted to go help that Pokemon, but she didn't want to get separated from Jason. Lexi finally decided to go with Jason.

"Wait up!" she called. She ran after him, trying not to trip all over the rocks, (or were they sleeping Geodude?) When she finally caught up, she found Jason standing in one spot, straining to hear something. "What is it?" Lexi asked.

"Shhh, I hear something," he whispered. They both stood there, waiting to see if they could hear the noise again.

It wasn't long before they heard it again. "Help," a group of far off voices called. They called for help again and again, they seemed to be very far away!

"We have to go help them!" Jason said. He started to head for where the voices were coming from. "Are you coming?" he asked Lexi.

"Oh," Lexi said. "When I want to go save the Clefairys, we can't. But when you want to go help someone, we have to drop everything and go. It's not fair!" At first she just sat down, (this rock did turn out to be a Geodude that she ran away from) but then decided it wasn't good to be alone in Mt. Moon.

They walked and walked for hours, battling some wild Pokemon here and there, none they found worthy of catching. Lexi and Jason stopped when there was a dead end in the tunnel. "Now where?" Lexi complained. She sat down on a rock (a real rock this time) to rest her feet.

"I don't know," Jason replied. "The voices were coming from down here." He tried to tap the wall, but it seemed solid. It looked everywhere, maybe for some kind of secret passageway, but he found nothing. "Damn it!" he shouted. It was getting ticked off that they had walked all of this way for nothing, when a Clefairy came by.

"Wow, a Clefairy!" Lexi shouted. "I never thought I would ever get to see one of those, since they are so rare!" The Clefairy lifted two fingers and started to move them in a circle.

"What is it doing?" Jason asked.

"It's using Metronome for some reason," Lexi replied, puzzled. All of a sudden, the wall started to open up, revealing a large room. It looked like every other place in Mt. Moon, except for one thing. This one contained a jail cell, with five members of Team Missile behind the bars.

"Help," they said. They looked dirty and hungry, as if they had been in there for a couple of days.

"Jason, what are we going to do?" Lexi asked. "We've got to help them!" She started looking around for a key, or something to try and bend the bars.

"Um, who put you in here?" Jason asked quizzically. It was odd seeing Team Missile behind bars, when outside Mt. Moon, they seemed to be in control. Who would have thought that it was Jonathan who stepped forward to give the explanation.

"We were put in here by Team Rocket," he explained. "We were, um, helping them get the rare fossils, stones, and Pokemon from Mt. Moon, when all of a sudden they turned on us. They were in far greater numbers than us because most of our team was outside, planning. We tried to use our Pokemon to defend us, but we were too far outnumbered. The gathered us up, and but us in this secret room that we knew nothing about. They must have slowly been digging it out while we were not paying attention. We didn't know what to do. Team Rocket was getting away with our hard earned stuff, and we feared for our friends waiting outsi…"

He immediately stopped talking, and slipped to the back of the cell. "What's the matter?" Lexi asked him. She stopped looking for a key long ago, she wanted to hear what Jonathan had to say. She and Jason turned around, and were face to face with Rachel.

"Ah, I see you've found our prisoners," Rachel said with a sneer. "I think you've two seen a little too much if you ask me." She ran back down the tunnel screaming, "Melissa, Melissa, I've found the culprits who imprisoned our friends. I told you they would return to the scene of the crime." It wasn't long before Melissa and three other members of Team Missile arrived. They must have been body guards, because they were super strong, like they could bend the metel bars themselves.

"You two again!" Melissa screamed. "I let you in here, and you imprison our team members! Guards, take them away!" Two of the guards came at Lexi and Jason, but they were ready. Lexi released her Butterfree, and Jason released his Pidgey.

"First of all," Lexi said. "We beat you and earned our way in to Mt. Moon."

"And second of all," Jason said. "We didn't imprison your buddies over here, she did." He pointed at Rachel, and she should of won an Academy Award for her performance.

She put hands to her chest and said, "Me? How dare you accuse me of something as imposturous as that!" She turned toward Melissa and the guards. "I would never hurt anyone that was helping us!"

Melissa's eyes turned red. She turned back to face Jason and Lexi and said, "Liars! So first you capture them and then you lie to my face? Guards, attack!" The guards threw out two Drowzees, a yellow Pokemon with a mini trunk.

Jason and Lexi tried to call out attacks, but the Drowzees had already use Hypnosis, Butterfree and Pidgey were down for the count. Everyone recalled their Pokemon, and the guards came after Lexi and Jason.

They ran two different ways, but the guards were much faster and finally caught up to them. Lexi and Jason kicked and yelled, but nothing happened.

"Guys," Lexi screamed to the people in the cell. "Tell them what really happened!" They all looked hurt, like they all wanted to talk. But then they looked at Rachel, and behind her back there was a knife, and Lexi knew they couldn't talk.

The guards looked toward Melissa for instructions. "Take the girl to Room R and the boy to Room M," she ordered. The guards went out of the room, and finally turned two opposite directions. "Well, you did a nice job today!" Melissa said to Rachel. "I'll have a talk with your boss about a promotion! However, how did you know this was back here?" She turned and started to walk away, however, when Melissa turned her back, Rachel knocked her out with a large rock and threw her in the cell. She laughed.

"You were getting too smart," she said.

Coming Up In Chapter 10A: Jason and Lexi were separated! It is now up to Jason to save the trapped Team Missile leaders and find his way out of Mt. Moon!

Author's Note: I know this was a darker than usual chapter, but it really showed the relationship between Team Rocket and Team Missile. School's starting in 4 days so don't expect a lot of quick updates!