Chapter 7:
During the days I waited for Ash to finally leave Viridian Forest with Misty, me and team didn't waste time and continued to train, already preparing for our next gym battle. I also spend a considerate time researching Mt. Moon to make sure it was safe, and continued my research in the food of Pokemon. I am proud to say that only with my books and knowledge, I was able to make Kayda's food recipe almost all on my own with just Professor Oak giving some pointers and advice here and there, and interestingly enough she shared some of my love for sweets, but different from me she was mature and controlled enough to restrain herself and not eat too much of them. I'm thankful Professor Oak is always so happy to help, but I worry that I'm taking too much of his time.
But all in all, nothing really exciting happened. I did battle some other trainers that stayed in the Pokemon centre to get some extra cash, since I can't keep relying on the money Professor Oak kindly gave me, but they were what most people call canon folders, with their Rattatas and Pidgeys, that didn't pose much of a challenge to Milo and Kayda. Although the battle experience, and the training wasn't wasted as Kayda was able to easily grasp Bubblebeam after some practice, and Milo with a little more difficulty was able to learn Bite, I'm impressed by Kayda's ability to control her 'energy', if I could call it that, and her speed to master moves. Is this something that comes with age, like some wisdom, or raw talent? I guess this is something worth looking up when I have time. The only one that didn't learn anything new was Rapier, not that I blame him or anything, after evolving he barely moves and passes most of his time sleeping. I guess this makes sense since he is in a process of developing his body and all, so with that in mind I decided to let him do his own thing. Thinking about it now, maybe Ash's Butterfree could have been stronger if he had let him stay more time as a Metapod, and not forced him to evolve in order to save his idiotic trainer. But that doesn't mean I didn't spend any time with Rapier, since he can't move, I settled on reading some simple child books to him before sleeping, although if he heard anything I don't know, as he doesn't talk with anything but some simple noises since evolving. I'm also happy that Milo and Kayda seem to be getting along better than before, but I guess Milo I guess Milo's dislike for Kayda was just a childish irritation that passed with time.
But now I'm simple relaxing from the days of training with my Pokemon, and since I'm expecting to see Ash and Misty arriving today I decided to wait for them inside the Pokemon centre with Rapier on my lap and Milo sleeping near my feet, with Kayda deciding to stay inside her Pokeball for the time being.
"Ha!" I am brought out of my thoughts by a high pitched exclamation. "To compete in the regional championship you need to beat gym trainers from different towns and get their badges as proof." Turning to the somewhat familiar voice, I saw Misty and Ash looking at a Pokemon League Championship poster on the wall. "Can you do that?" Misty teased Ash.
"Of course I can." Ash exclaimed confident.
"Ha ha ha." An old man that I immediately identified as Flint, Brock's father, thanks to my future knowledge, approached Misty and Ash. "Don't tell me you plan on challenging Brock the Pewter city gym leader?" He asked.
"Of course I do! As soon Pikachu and my other Pokemon are better, I will have no problem." Ash confidently said to flint. "Take me to this Brock gym, I'll beat him."
At first I didn't want to get involved in their little quarrel, but this could be a good opportunity to make Ash learn something, maybe by the end of this he could become a better trainer. "Ash you aren't really thinking of challenging a rock type gym with a bug, a flying and an electric type pokemon. Are you?" I asked him, announcing my presence.
Both Ash and Misty looked surprised, but it wasn't long before Ash recovered and asked dumbly. "Yeah, what's the problem?" Now not even Flint could help but sweat drop from Ash's lack of basic knowledge.
"Rock types resist against all of their attacks, unless you have some kind of strategy or plan it's fundamentally impossible for you to win with the strength of your current Pokemon." I explained as I got up from the chair I was sitting, and walked towards them, while also being careful with Rapier that was on my lap. "Not to mention that there are a lot of rock types that are also ground, making electric moves completely useless."
Ash seemed to grow more and more irritated and exclaimed "What do you know? Why don't you win a badge yourself then."
Sighting I picked up my badge case from my pocket and opened it, showing them the shining Boulder Badge. "I did challenge him some days ago, and I won." The group seemed to gawk at the sight of the badge. "I just stayed in Pewter to wait for you guys to catch up."
"You must be quite strong then, there aren't many trainers who can beat Brock in their first try." Flint commented, seeming more interested in me now.
"Thanks, but I think the credit should be given to my Pokemon" I smiled at Milo who seemed to have woken up because of the noise, and is now standing by my side. "They really gave their all."
Flint nodded approvingly, but Ash seemed to get even more determined to get the badge now that he knew I already have one "Whatever, I'll show you." He said before taking his Pokemons from nurse Joy who seemed to have finished healing them, and left the Pokemon centre in a rush.
We all stared at the door before Flint broke the silence "That kid still has a long way to go." He said before he also left. I can't agree with you more, Flint.
Milo jumped on my shoulder and snuggled into my neek. "Let's gooo, I'm tired of staying in this city. You saw them already, so let's go..." He insisted impatiently.
"Aright, arlight, I understand." I said to him before turning towards Misty who hadn't left yet. "Nice to see you again Misty, as you saw I already defeated this city's gym so I'm going to head over to Mt. Moon now."
She seemed surprised at my statement "You're already leaving?"
I nodded "Yeah, I just stayed so long because I was waiting for you guys to catch up, but now that you two got here I'm going." She seemed a little down, probably because she would have to deal with Ash on her own. "Take care, see you two at Cerulean City." She flinched when I said the name of the city, but I just ignored and left the Pokemon centre and headed directly towards route 3, since I already have everything ready for my journey through Mt. Moon.
We found Mt. Moon entrance easily, as there were various signs pointing towards the right direction. Everyone is currently out of their pokeballs, Milo at my shoulder, Rapier resides inside my bag, only with his head out, and Kayda took Rapier's favorite spot before evolving on my head. I'm sure that if any trainer saw us they would think I'm some kind of weirdo, not that I care anyway.
The cave entrance looked mostly exactly like the anime, only missing the lamps that Team Rocket set up. I underestimated the difficulty I'm having with entering the dark tunnel, memories keep coming back to when I… No, shaking my head and putting my hand on Milo's head, who was looking concerned at me, I gathered confidence and entered the cave. The darkness involved me with the only light coming off the lamp I quickly bought back in Pewter knowing I would have to pass this cave. Continuing forward I felt the humidity of the cave hit my skin, making shivers run down my spine, trying to stabilize my breath. I continued treading the path deeper and deeper inside, I guess my discomfort by being below ground was beyond obvious as both of my Pokemon who weren't sleeping looked concerned in my direction.
"I'm alright guys, it's nothing." I tried to comfort them, but I probably didn't sound very convincing as the look on their faces didn't change.
Jumping out of shoulder Milo got in front of me "Aaron there seriously something wrong, I've only seen you like this after you almost drowned!" I flinched, so I'm that bad right now.
"I already said it's nothing Milo." I said as I walked past him. "Now let's focus on getting out on the other side of this cave." He seemed to want to protest, but he shared a look with Kayda and kept quiet.
Athol that didn't stop the tense atmosphere, and my occasional shiver and misstep, even with me trying to avoid having them as much as possible. The path was sufficiently wide for me and Milo to walk side by side as we continued in silence, with Milo randomly glancing at me, although we had to stop when we reached an intersection. Cautiously I looked at the two paths, if I remember correctly for what nurse Joy informed me before I left that the best and most easy path is the right one, I just hope I'm not wrong and have to spend more time inside this cave.
I'm brought out of my thoughts when the silence is suddenly interrupted by the sound of talking, normally I wouldn't care and continue my path, but maybe because of my current situation I'm a little more cautious and decided to peek from the wall. I am astuded at seeing the two Team Rocket grunts walking leisurely along the left path. By their appearances they appear to be normal grunts, not the dumb trio Ash encounters, but then the question is why? What are they doing here? Wait, can it be that this is the event that happens in the game, where Team Rocket is trying to find fossils? This is a variable that I didn't anticipate, I was thinking that since Ash had such an easy time inside the cave I could rush and get this over quickly.
Giving another look in the direction of the grunts I noticed that they are heading towards the tunnel I'm currently at, thankfully they don't seem to have noticed me, probably because they are too distracted talking among themselves. Now I could fight them, or I could try to run back, both options don't sound very inviting, because even if I would love to destroy Team Rocket's plans I don't know if we are strong enough. Giving a glance at Milo I see him silently growling towards the grunts, yeah Milo's right I can't let them walder around freely and continue their evil plans.
"Milo do you want to fight?" I asked him, my discomfort from being underground momentarily forgotten.
He gave a determined nod "Yeah, let's crush these guys."
Kayda, who we had already told how we met and what happened, also sounded very excited at the prospect of defeating Team Rocket grunts "You can count on me."
Feeling thankful for my partners I left our hiding place and confronted the two grunts. They seemed mildly surprised at my appearance, but upon seeing the two Pokemon with me, Rapier is hidden almost completely inside my bag, they smiled maliciously and grabbed a pokeball from their belts. "Hey brat, how about you pass your Pokemon and we promise to not hurt you... Too much."
Like if I would ever let them take my Pokemon "No." I boldly stated.
Their faces contorcer into scowls "Well, we warned you." the grunt stated before throwing his pokeball together with his partner, releasing a Rattata and a Zubat.
"Milo, Kayda, I'm counting on you guys." I said as both of them stood in front of ready for the battle.
"Zubat, Leech Life." "Rattata, Bite." Grunt 1 and 2 comandaded.
"Milo, use Sand Attack on Rattata, and then Tackle, and Kayda, throw that Zubat out of the air with a Water Gun." At my orders Milo trew sand into Rattata's eyes making it stumble, before Milo crashed into him with the Tackle attack. Kayda also attacked using the compressed blast of water against the Zubat, but the bat was too quick and avoided all of Kayda's attempts before landing its atack on her.
I need another strategy for Kayda or she'll lose. "Kayda, make that bat fly with Twister." The winds picked up as Kayda released the attack that made the light Zubat be tossed in circles. Unfortunately the resilient bat although does not possess much power, is very quick and stable, and was able to quickly recover after the winds calmed down, withouse receiving much damage.
"Haha, you got lucky with Rattata kid but now we're going to crush you down. Rattata, Quick Attack!" "Zubat, Bite!" Both grunts ordered.
Maybe we just need a trade. "Milo, use Swift on Zubat and Kayda, hit Rattata with Bubblebeam!" Both of them changed their target and attacked, with Milo's Swift attack being able to hit Zubat as it followed the target, and Kayda's spread Bubblebeam defeating the fast coming Rattata, who didn't have a place to evade the attack.
"Rattata!" Grunt 1 cried. "Zubat!" Grunt 2 exclaimed.
Both of them gave me a nasty look before grunt 2 said. "You'll pay for this next time kid." And then the two returned their Pokemon and ran to the exit of the cave before I could do anything. Now that I think about it, what would I do with the Team Rocket grunts after I defeated them? In the games it was so simple, but now should I call the cops? Tie them up and bring them to the station? Ignore and continue my path? Well the first option can already be nulled, as looking at my Pokedex I see that I lack connection to be even able to call anyone. I guess I'll just ignore them as they already ran and there is little I can do now.
We continued the path inside the cave, and encountered more grunts walking around. I was first scared that they would somehow recognize my pink eyes as a subject that escaped, but thankfully it seems they aren't avidly looking for me, or at least these are grunts too low in the Team Rocket hierarchy to know about me. Everytime the battle seemed easier and easier as we progressed, I don't know if it is because we got stronger, or simply because we got used to beating the same Pokemon, as the grunts only had Zubat, Rattata and the rare Koffing. Thankfully I'm stocked in Berries for making food and was able to heal my Pokemon's health with Oran Berries, and if they got poisoned I used Pecha Berries.
Me and Milo, since Kayda decided to return to her pokeball, have been walking for quite a while, until we stumbled into a big chamber with a wide ceiling that had big stalactites looking down on us, making shivers run down my spine. In the middle of the room there I noticed a white coated man who appeared to be looking at two chunks of rock. He is probably the scientist that has the Helix and Dome fossils that stay at the end of the cave, thank Arceus I can't wait to see the surface. Approaching him, he seemed to notice my presence and turned to me with a crazed look in his eyes.
"Aah, you came here to steal my fossils! But they are all MINE!" He screamed before I could do or say anything "Go Grimer!" he threw a pokeball that released the purple toxic waste Pokemon. I don't remember him being like this in the game, well I guess I can't expect everything to be the exact same, much less from a character that almost doesn't talk.
Not wanting to battle, I tried to reason with him. "No, you got it all wrong I don't-"
"LIES! All lies! Grimer Poison Gas!" He screamed to his Pokemon who released poisonous gas from his mouth. Is he crazy? Using toxic gas inside this enclosed space.
Why do I keep meeting crazy scientists? Not wanting to die I gave up trying to convince him and also readied for battle "Kayda, battle stance." I took and opened Kayda's pokeball, releasing her into the field. "Use Twister to blow that gas away!" Kayda blew out the small miniature hurricane that thankfully dispersed the poisonous gas.
"Arghh! Grimer, Pound!" The scientist commanded, and the Grimer started sliding towards Kayda. Unfortunately for him the Grimer was extremely slow and Kayda, who specialized in special attack could easily hit it from far away.
"Kayda, use Water Gun." The blast of water headed towards the Grimer who could do nothing to evade.
"Grimer, Harden." The scientist tried to protect his Pokemon, but it was to no avail, only prolonging the inevitable, as Kayda continued to spill water until the Grimer fainted. "Uhh, Grimer, return. Go Voltorb!" The scientist returned his fainted Pokemon and released a Voltorb into the field. If my memory is not wrong his last Pokemon will be a Koffing, so it is best for me to save Kayda for then, and not risk her against an electric type.
"Return, Kayda, you did a great job." I said, before turning to Milo "Your turn Buddy." He gave me a confident nod and stood in front of me.
"Voltorb, Eerie Impulse!" The scientist started, and Voltorb released pulses of energy against Milo. That's not good, with Voltorb speed Swift is my greatest choice of attack, but now its damage is halved.
"Milo Swift and follow with Quick Attack!" Milo released the attack, shooting stars at Voltorb, and then started to follow them using the speed boost proportuned by Quick Attack.
"Voltorb, use Rollout!" The Pokemon started rolling against the stars. Well there goes my plan.
"Milo, quick use Dig!" Milo escaped from the spinning Voltorb, which was able to continue rolling even after being hit by Swift, by digging a hole. Not being able to stop the attack Voltorb hit the wall of the chamber, making the cave shake and small stones fall from the ceiling.
My eyes widened and I fell down when I tried to step back. The memories of that day coming back, tears fall down of my eyes as I remember watching the news of the accident. My parents were away on some work trip, and the one taking care of me was my grandpa. I remember him hugging me while I cried for hours until I fell asleep. I hugged myself to try to stop the trembling as the memories I so desperately buried and tried to forget, rushed back as if I was reliving the exact moment, with a turbulence of raging emotions that assaulted me with full strength.
I'm snapped back to reality with Milo bumping into me. Looking at the field I see that Voltorb has been defeated and the scientist was screaming about not letting me take his fossils, how long have I been out of it? My attention is brought back to Milo as he let out a concerned sound, his face a mixture of worry and concern, as he put a paw on my cheeks where my tears just a moment ago were flowing freely. Taking deep breaths I try to stop myself from shaking, the rollercoaster of emotions still fresh in my mind.
"I-I'm fine buddy." I said in the middle of my deep breaths "Just some bad memories."
"You definitely don't seem fine." Milo argued back.
"Just give me a moment." I'm able to compose myself and get up while stumbling a bit. Looking at the scientist I see him throwing his last pokeball in the air, releasing a Koffing. I can have a breakdown later, now I have to defeat this guy. "Milo, think you can still battle?" I ask as I see he has some burned marks along his fur, probably for an electric attack from Voltorb.
He looks at me with a face that shows that he won't let me escape his questions later and answer with a nod. Turning to the crazy scientist I see him giving the first command.
"Koffing, use Smokescreen!" A thick black smoke was spilled into the room, making it impossible for us to see the opposing foe.
"Mile, use its scent to find its location and use Swift and Dig." Milo sniffs the air before waving his tail and shooting stars inside the smoke, after that he uses Dig to enter the underground. There is a moment of silence before I hear the sound of Koffing being hit by the Swift attack.
"No, Koffing!" The scientist exclaims. "Grrr, I can't let him take my fossils. Koffing, use Smog!" Thoul I can't see, I'm sure Koffing is releasing a poisonous smoke.
"Now Milo, use Bite!" I shouted to him. Hearing the sound of Koffing in pain I waited for the smoke to dissipate to see a fainted Koffing and a proud but poisoned Milo standing besides its body.
"Ahhhh! This can't be!" The scientist screams bloody murder "My fossils, my precious fossils. No, no, NO!" He glares at me and hugs one of them "I'll never let you take them! I'll protect Lord Helix even if I have to DIE!"
Not knowing what to do I look at the fossil in his feet "Huum, then how about you give the other one." That seems to pick the scientist's attention as he looks between me and what I think is the Dome Fossil.
"The other one… Only one, only one..." He mutters "Yes, YES!" He throws the rock at me before running away with the other fossil screaming. "Praise Lord Helix!"
Thankfully I'm able to catch the fossil without damaging it and store it inside my bag. Going to Milo I scratch behind his ear and offer him a Petcha Berry to heal the potion. "You were great Milo." he purrs at my touch and basks at the praise.
Getting up with Milo in my arms I continue towards the exit of the cave. Arceus knows how much I want to get out of here, the random stalactite still causes me to shiver. Milo thankfully stays quiet the entire way, he is probably waiting for us to get out of the cave, before he assaults me with questions.
We reached the outside not much longer after I started walking. I can't help but appreciate the free wind and nice sunlight. Huh, this makes me nostalgic of the time I escaped with Blane and Milo from the Rocke's laboratory. The moon on that day seemed to shine as beautiful as the sun is right now.
"Finally!" I say happily "I never want to enter a cave ever again!" For some reason I feel that this will not be the last time I will enter a cave, unfortunately. Giving a pat on Milo's head I started walking towards Cerulean City, which I could see from the hill I'm on top of.
Cerulean City was fairly bigger than both Viridian and Pewter, with bigger buildings and a huge marketplace that I couldn't wait to visit. Imagine all the new and exciting products It might have! Milo also had stars in his eyes as he looked around, almost jumping out of my arms in excitement to see everything. But the exploration would have to wait as I'm going directly to the Pokemon centre to heal my Pokemon, as feeding some Oran Berriesis a very shallow and lacking treatment. Also I want to immediately call Professor Oak to tell him about meeting Team Rocket incide Mt. Moon.
The Pokemon centre was currently fairly empty, or at least as empty as it could be, with a city of this size. I handed my Pokemon to nurse Joy and then went to an empty telephone, I typed the professor's number and waited. It wasn't long before the image of Professor Oak was shown in the munitor.
"Aaron, my boy. How are you doing?" He asked with a grandfatherly laugh.
"I'm doing fine, professor, and I just reached Cerulean City!" I gave him a grin.
His eyes widened "That was quite fast, lad, did anything happen?" My face turned serious at the question.
"Yes, that's one of the main reasons I'm calling you as fastest I could." I then told everything that happened, and how I encountered multiple grunts of Team Rocket wandering in Mt. Moon. His face turned serious and he gained a thoughtful expression.
"I can only guess that they were after Moon Stones that Mt. Moon is famous for. Or looking for fossils, because recently a group of explorers found some there, and there are some people speculating that there are more of them. He said. That's interesting, I wonder if they were Pokemon fossils? Wanting to surprise Professor Oak I picked my fossil from my bag and showed it to the camera.
"Actually, I got a fossil as a reward from some scientist after I defeated him." Professor Oak's face did a complete change from serious, to surprised, to joyful, and finally exited.
"Incredible Aaron! The fossil in your hands seems to be the most intact Dome Fossil I have ever seen. You wouldn't mind sending it to me so I can study it, would you?" He asked excitedly at the prospect of research. Not that I minded of course, as it was right now it will only be weight for me to carry, and always at the risk of breaking.
"No, I don't mind professor." We then put the fossil inside a special pokeball made especially for items instead of Pokemons, and I sent it via the PC network to the professor's lab. This item pokeball is a really recent invention, and is extremely expensive, so it's not very used or commonly seen.
"Don't worry Aaron I will take good care of it." More care that I would, I can tell. "And about Team Rocket I will ask the League to send someone to investigate later, don't you worry, we won't let them catch you again." I deeply thanked Professor Oak and we ended the call.
Deciding that I could use this time that my Pokemons are still healing to eat dinner, I headed to the cafeteria of the Pokemon centre, nothing grand, but comfortable and cheap enough. Not only that but it also gives a discount for trainers, which my wallet appreciates. I finish the food quickly as I hear nurse Joy calling my name to the front desk to pick up my Pokemon. I also asked if I could use the Pokemon centre kitchen, nurse Joy thankfully agreed and I was able to make the special recipes of food for all my Pokemon. Nurse Joy even seemed interested and happy that I'm making my own Pokemon food, but warned me to take care because the wrong recipe will do more bad than good.
Getting into the room, nurse Joy let me stay for the night, I released all my Pokemon and served food for both Kayda and Milo, as Rapier doesn't eat anything as a Kakuna. I'm redying for bed when Milo, let out a sound to get my attention. Looking at him, I see he and Kayda giving me a stern look.
"Milo told me what happened inside the cave when I was in my pokeball. Are you going to tell us why you acted like that?" She was giving me a look that said she wouldn't accept any excuses.
"Yeah, ever since we entered the cave you were acting all strange!" I deflated a little. The memories still hurt even though it has been a long time since it happened.
"You two don't need to know, they were just some… Bad memories. Let's just say I'm not very good with caves." I tried to avoid talking.
"But I want to know what's troubling you! Aren't we partners that believe in each other!" Milo shouted to me,his voice full of emotion, angry and sad.
Sighting, knowing that I should talk to them, even if I didn't want to say anything about this topic, as it made me remember the past, I hesitantly started explaining. My family was fairly rich and you could say I could buy anything I wanted, but because of that my parents were always working and never had time to spend with me. They went on various work trips, and were never at home, the only ones there for me were my grandpa and my older brother, Max. My brother understood my sadness of not having our parents around, as he had grown up wanting to spend time with them too, so he would spend lots of time with me, playing, having fun, and helping. He was quite older than me and was studying to be a geologist. During dinner he would talk to me about the different rocks and soils and things he learned, he always loved the outside and nature, he even took me camping one or two times. He dreamed of going around the world looking at natural wonders and studying the environment. But one day when I was around 8 years old a disaster struck. The cave he and his colleagues went to study suddenly fell and sadly there were no survivors.
I feel the tears leave my eyes when I remember Max. He had always cared for me, but on that day all his hopes and dreams were crushed by the ceiling of an unstable old cave. I feel Milo pushing his head against my chest trying to comfort me, and Rayda softly putting her head against my leg. Wiping away my tears I hugged Milo and closed my eyes tightly. It seemed that hours had passed before I slowly let go and tried to recompose myself.
"Thanks for telling us everything." Milo muttered.
"It must have been hard." Kayda spoke softly looking directly into my eyes "But don't worry, you have us now." I smiled a bit at that.
"Yeah, you can count on me Aaron!" Milo seemed to reinvigorate into his normal self a little.
I gave them both the biggest smile I could muster. "Thanks guys." Our moment was interrupted when Kayda saw the time on the clock and gained a hard look on her face.
"Yes, but now you all must sleep. You younglings need it if you want to grow." Her expression left no place for discussion, and all of us quickly fell into my bed, getting comfortably below the soft blankets I yawned tiredly. Oh, how I would love to be able to carry a bed around so I wouldn't need to sleep on a bed roll on the floor when traveling.
After talking to them about the past I feel as if a great weight that I have been holding for a long time has been lifted from my shoulders. It is quite strange, but refreshing at the same time. Another thing I noticed is that I seem to be acting more and more as my current body age. In this universe 10 year old kids seem to be more mature than the universe I came from, but they are still kids, and I know that I wouldn't break down so easily when I had a 16 year old body, so it is kind of worrying if there will be much more changes. I also feel kinda bad for not saying everything that happened that day to Milo and Kayda. But it's better if they don't know, because it was from that day on that I started hating my parents.
Now that I'm writing about Aaron's phobia of caves and the scene when he has a little freakout, I'm starting to think I made Aaron's reaction in chapter 5 when he almost drowned a little too light and quick. Well, I hope it is just me improving and making this new scene better. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!