I'm glad that you people liked that I choose Trapinch for the mystery pokémon. I must admit that Sheer Force is a rather broken ability for him to have. I think I'm also going to start putting the pokemon's level in the list to make it more accessible to new and returning readers. Ash is also going to get a new team member this chapter, let's see if you can guess what that pokémon is before the chapter ends.

I think I'm going to cut down on the mention to training and other related matters, mentioning them in a sentence or two to pace up the story.


Pewter City

After getting back to his room, Ash started checking his newly acquired TM case that he'd picked from the Pokemart for free. Silph had started giving out TM cases for free to encourage trainers to buy more TMs.

After putting in his new Headbutt TM into the case, he started checking which of his pokémon could learn. After going through the list twice to make sure, Ash wanted to smash the TM case into the ground. Apparently, for some inane reason beyond Ash's comprehension, only Saur could learn the move.

He wanted to meet the geniuses at Sliph who had made it so that only a few select pokémon could learn it. He saw no reason why Headbutt, which was basically just a more powerful Tackle, wasn't a universal TM like Protect or Attract. Even more frustrating was the fact that according to his pokédex, both Trapinch and Shinx were capable of learning the move through move tutors, just not through TMs.

He decided to let it go for now and started checking whether he had all the supplies needed to make his way through Mount Moon tomorrow. Now that he had some money from all his recent victories over Brock and the trainers in Viridian Forest and Pewter City, he could finally afford to stock up on some revives, berries and some new TMs.

He had thought about which new TMs to get, and he had landed upon Protect and Thunder Wave. Protect would be useful for his whole team to defend against wide ranging attacks such as Earthquake and Surf. While Thunder Wave would give Shinx a way to afflict status conditions on other pokémon.

Unfortunately, he could only afford these TMs for now and they were one of the cheapest ones thanks to their utility and the wide range of pokémon who could learn it. At least, all TMs sold these days were permanent instead of being one use, as they used to be before the League forced Silph to stop.


Mount Moon Entrance, Three Days later

Ash had spent the past three days since leaving Pewter battling the swarm of trainers that inhabited the route between Mt Moon and Pewter. Most of these trainers were Pewter residents who had gotten the badge from Brock but were either too young or too scared to make the journey through Mt Moon to the other side of Kanto.

He had let Shinx battle most of these trainers, partly to give her some more experience and partly because her relative rarity in Kanto meant that most trainers had little clue about her strengths and weaknesses. He had also carried Saur on his shoulder, to allow him to absorb the needed sunlight to facilitate his upcoming evolution.

According to the pokédex, he was close to evolving and only needed some more experience and a push to do so. Even Shinx was nearing evolution, as evidenced by the growing black fur on her body and Ash hoped that she would evolve before the Cerulean Gym battle.

Ash had planned on exploring Mt Moon in depth, down to its lowest levels. He wanted to search for a few fragments of the moon stone and the fossils that were supposedly present within. He also wanted to try his luck at tracking down and catching a Clefairy. Its fairy typing would be a boost to his team, which was really lacking in coverage right now.

He recalled Saur back into his pokéball from his shoulder and released Trapinch onto the ground. Trapinch would have a great time filling up on dirt in the mountain and he would serve as a useful guide through the mountain.


Mount Moon, 4 days later

Ash had spent the past few days hunting for fossils through the mountain but to no avail. He was just about to give up and go when Trapinch alerted him about there being something interesting in a deep forgotten part of the Mountain. It was so out of the regular path that even the League couldn't be bothered to put lights up. He had to rely on Shinx acting as a flashlight to find what was lurking in the tunnel.

He was getting frustrated looking for whatever Trapinch had found when suddenly he struck gold. In the corner of the wall were two unbroken fossils embedded in the wall. He was just about to order Trapinch to remove them from the wall gently when someone put a hand on his shoulder.

Now at this point, Ash may or may not have screamed like a banshee in fear but since he has never clarified what happened there, we may never know.

"What the hell was that?" he grasped in fear. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I just wanted to inform you that I found these fossils first and they're mine" the man dressed like a "Super Nerd" answered.

"Now, I can't be sure on whether I should believe you or not. Instead, I propose that we have a pokémon battle with the fossils going to the winner," said Ash.

"Well, I don't want to wager on something that should be mine by all rights, but I see no other option, so I accept" said the Super Nerd with reluctance. They both agreed o battle, with standard league rules.

Ash and the Super Nerd both released their pokémon at the same time. Upon seeing that the Nerd had released a Grimer, he called back Saur and switched him with Shinx.

"Hey, how'd you get a Shinx here in Kanto? Anyway, Grimer poison him using Poison Gas" the Super Nerd asked.

"Dodge the mist coming towards you and use Thunder Wave, Shinx then hit him with Thunder Shock" yelled Ash. While Shinx couldn't dodge the mist and got poisoned, she did manage to land both of her attacks, paralyzing and damaging Grimer.

"Well, now that your Shinx is paralyzed, I just need to wait it out till the poison manages to knock it out. Keep using Minimize Grimer, he won't be able to defeat us if he can't see" the Super Nerd proclaimed.

Ash had to agree that the Super Nerd was a good trainer, and his strategy was solid but thankfully, Ash had an ace up his sleeve. He recalled Shinx and called Trapinch up to the ground and ordered him to keep using Bulldoze constantly. Due to Grimer being paralyzed and lacking access to a long-range move, all he could do was stay in one place while Trapinch battered him from afar using Bulldoze.

After only two Bulldozes, Grimer was knocked out and the Super Nerd gnashed his teeth in frustration before sending out Voltorb. Ash decided to switch pokémon again and sent out Saur to deal with him.

"Saur use Sleep Powder on him as he comes by and then use Leech Vine" commanded Ash. Now, Ash's knowledge about common Kanto pokémon was coming in handy as he knew that Voltorb was primarily a speedy physical attacker, and he needed some way to slow him down. Thankfully, Saur had managed to perfect both Sleep and Poison powder two days ago.

Ash had also started working on naming his usual strategies and going over them with his pokémon, Leech Vine was as the name implied, Saur wrapping pokémon with Vine Whip and seeding them with Leech Seed.

Getting back to the battle, Saur had managed to put it to sleep but had gotten hurt with two Sonic Booms and was close to passing out. Thankfully, the Leech Seed was helping him regain energy.

"Saur, keep using growth for now till he wakes up from the Sleep Powder and then continuously pelt him using Razor Leaf" said Ash in a confident tone. The Super Nerd was getting rather agitated that he had only pokémon left and decided to go all out. He released his last pokémon, Koffing and ordered him to knock Saur out using Poison Gas.

Before Ash could react and call back Saur, he was knocked out by the Poison Gas. Calling back Saur felt a little weird to Ash, given that this was first time his pokémon had fainted during battle. Ash didn't want to send out Shinx against this Koffing, but Trapinch wouldn't be able to hurt this Koffing and he had no other option.

He reluctantly released Shinx and ordered her to paralyze Koffing using Thunder Wave. From there, it just a boring battle with Shinx trying to hit Koffing and failing until Koffing paused in the air due to paralysis, all the while trying to dodge Koffing's attacks in return.

Ash was getting bored with all of it when he saw that Shinx had finally managed to knock out Koffing and started to collect the fossils from the wall. Since, he had little expertise in how to take out fossils from the wall properly, he decided to play it safe and took a huge chunk from the wall with the fossil safely enclosed within.

Ash was thankful that of the limitless space in his Sliph backpack. It was made of the same technology that Pokéballs used but had cost a pretty penny more since it wasn't being subsidized by the League. By the time he was done, the Super Nerd had vanished, maybe to see if he could find some other fossils.

Ash was a little disappointed that he hadn't found a moon stone or a Clefairy, but all in all he was very satisfied with how things had turned out. He was starting to look for a way out of the Mountain, when he thought he saw a Clefairy in the darkness.

He decided to check it out and see if he could get lucky twice in one day and find a Clefairy as well. He followed the Clefairy silently for quite a while, taking care not to startle or alert it.

Suddenly, the ground underneath him shifted and he fell into some sort of hole. "What going on?" he yelled in a scared voice. Nobody responded and he scrambled around trying to find a way out of the hole. The hole was very smooth, and he could see no way out of it. He was tempted to release Trapinch to see if he could help in some way, but he decided to hold him in reserve for now. He on the verge of crying from fear when suddenly he started to feel dizzy and fell down on the ground, knocked out.


Unknown Location

"So, what should we do this human boy, elder?" asked the young warrior to the revered elder in the front. "Patience youngster, this boy has a great destiny in front of him, he will be able to help us with our issue. After all it is his kind that is bothering us" consoled the elder.

One of the pokémon went to Ash and used a very weak version of Wake-Up Slap on him. Poor Ash was slapped awake, grasping for breath, and trying to figure out what was going on.

He rubbed his eyes trying to open them properly. As soon as he got them open, he jumped up in fright. There were rows and rows of Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable as far as the eye could see. And in front of his, in the center of the room was a massive Moon Stone, the biggest ever concentration of Moon Stone ever discovered.

"What's going on? Just to be safe and all, you're not going to kill or eat me and stuff" said Ash attempting to make a joke.

"Don't worry, child you're perfectly safe here. We just brought you here because we need your help. The human organization Team Rocket has been bothering us in their search for the Moon Stone. They want to capture and sell both our colony and the Moon Stone" explained the elder Clefable.

"Sure, I'm ready to help you defeat Team Rocket. But why do you need my help?" he asked. "We need you to help infiltrate and destroy their operation. We cannot operate Human Technology, nor protect ourselves from being captured in your dastardly Pokémon Balls" explained the warrior Clefairy.

"Great, I can do that. When are we leaving to destroy the base?" asked a pumped-up Ash. "Patience, young Ash. We need to heal your Pokémon and prepare our warriors for the trip. We will strike in the darkness of the night when the moon strengthens our powers."

While they waited for night to strike, Ash learnt a few things about the Clefairy tribe. They believed that their ancestors had come from the Moon riding in the Moon Stone.

Ash had also learned that the Original Moon Stone gave the Clefairies untold control over their powers. They had such mastery over their moves, that they could use Metronome and purposefully select which move they wanted to get.

Apparently, the Moon Stone radiating its power caused the ordinary stones near it to become temporary one-use moon stones. The tribe then distributed these stones all over the Mountain to prevent travelers from searching too deep for them.

However, these moon stones were cheap imitations compared to real deal. A pokémon that evolved too early and with the help of these fake moon stones would never be able to achieve its true potential.

Ash was astounded by how advanced this tribe was and stunned to think that pokémon communities could exist like this all over the world. While they waited for the night to fall, the Clefairies had even managed to teach Saur how to use Magical Leaf somehow, even though they themselves were incapable of learning it. Even Shinx had managed to learn Fake Tears from them. Trapinch though was too afraid of them to get close, dragons and their pre-evolutions were terrified of fairies, silly as that may seem.


Team Rocket Base, 2:00 am

Rocket Executive Proton was sleeping soundly when suddenly an alarm awoke him. He got out his tent and noticed that the base was in chaos. "What's going on, grunts. Why is base in such chaos?" roared Proton.

"Sir, apparently, there's a boy and an army of Clefairy behind him taking over the base. And they are knocking everybody out and destroying all our technology" explained a grunt shaking in his boots.

"Are you grunts incompetent? How could any single boy have an army? And how could he be destroying our base singlehandedly? Even Red couldn't accomplish that on his own" yelled Proton, red in the face.

Suddenly, the door of the command room blasted and fell over. And Proton could see that was indeed a teenage boy that was leading the army behind him. Maybe, he was seeing things, but Proton would swear, when later asked during interrogation, that the boy was a splitting image of Red.

He released his pokémon, ordering them to knock the boy out and defeat the army behind him. Unfortunately, he only had two of his pokémon on hand. The rest of his pokémon were back at the base, receiving training and enhancements. He commanded Goldbat and Weezing to gas them out.

He watched in disbelief as his pokémon were knocked out as though they were some low level pidgeys by the Army. He was unable to do anything as the boy ordered a Clefairy to knock him out, and he fell down unconscious. The next time he would wake up would be in Indigo, being interrogated by Lance.


Moon Stone Cavern

Ash was a little surprised by how well the mission had gone. They had managed to destroy the Rocket operations beyond repair, and he had called in a tip for the Indigo Task Force to arrest the rocket members. He had also the presence of mind to remove the memories of the Clefairy army and him from the minds of the Team Rocket members. Now, Ash was getting ready to leave when he decided to try his luck for one last time.

"Hey, I'm not sure whether I should be asking you guys this but as you know I'm a pokémon trainer. Would any of you be interested in joining my team?" asked Ash in a nervous tone. He looked over to see that every pokémon in the cavern was staring at him and he wondered whether he had made a terrible mistake.

Just, he was getting nervous and was on the verge of running from the embarrassment when one of the Clefairy came forward from the crowd and nodded its head. Now this time Ash did let out a whoop of joy, and then rubbed his head in embarrassment when he saw that everyone was still staring at him. He blushed and pulled an empty premier ball that he had been saving for such an occasion.


Moon Stone Cavern, Next Day

"Elder, are you sure that you should have allowed the young Clefairy to leave with the boy? I know that he helped us, but we don't allow our tribe members to leave with humans" asked a Clefable.

"Relax young one, I know what I was doing when I let the young Clefairy go with the boy. Lady Mew spoke to me as you know, she informed me that the boy is Arceus' Chosen One and that he is destined to have Clefairy with him through the dangers they will face" explained the venerated Elder.


That wraps up this chapter. The chapters are getting longer and, in my opinion, of higher quality. The next chapter is going to be out this week, for sure. It's going to be the Cerulean Gym and a surprise.

Tell me what you think of what happened this chapter. To those that managed to guess Clefairy, congrats. I know it was a little obvious, but it just felt right. In this chapter, we came to know a little more about the Clefairy Tribe in Mount Moon and I did a little more worldbuilding.

I think I'm going to rewrite the first chapter again, because I don't think its up to the quality of the later chapters. Tell me if you agree or disagree with that. Call me ambitious, but I want this story to be on the first page results for best Ash Ketchum fanfics.

Ash's Pokémon list:

Bulbasaur (Saur) – Lv 15 - Tackle, Growl, Vine Whip, Growth, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, Protect and Magical Leaf.

Shinx – Lv 14 - Tackle, Leer, Charge, Thunder Shock, Thunder Wave, Charge, Bite, Protect and Fake Tears.

Trapinch – Lv 16 - Bite, Sand Attack, Bide, Mud Slap, Bulldoze, Protect and Feint Attack.

Clefairy – Unknown - Unknown