Chapter 6: To Mt moon (Mt Moon part 1)

So here is the latest chapter, And looking at it, it has been four months since last update. Well, it could be worse, like closer to a year. In this chapter, we will meet some new characters! and Someone catches a new pokemon!
Also, I have decided Ash, Brock and Misty won't go to Cerulean City. There is no real need, now Ash knows Misty's the gym leader, and he can battle her any other time.

Ash's team:

Charmander, Pidgeotto, Phanpy, Butterfree

Brock's:
Onix, Geodude.

Misty's:
Goldeen, Staryu, Starmie

Leaf:
Bulbasaur, Spearow, Azurill

Gary:
Squirtle

Jessie:
Ekans

James:
Koffing

I have added that this will be Pearlshipping to the summary, but I have been thinking about the others. for May, I have had a change of heart, and would do her with Drew or Ritchie. Brock will be with Lucy, and I am planning on putting Misty and Tracy together. And for later on, I will either to Iris and Cilan together, or I'll put Cilan with Skyla.

The journey to the foot of Mt Moon was just over a day on foot, and the trip included an overnight stop: too far for one day. Misty said it took her that long to make this part of the journey, and they were making good time, so they could meet that. It was a day of walking, a day of getting to know their newest team member, Brock. During the journey to Mt Moon, they had become very good friends, despite the short period of time they had all known each other for.

As it turned out, Brock knew a lot about Pokémon and was quite a promising trainer. If it wasn't for his lack of experience, Ash was sure Brock would be a very strong gym leader, he had a good brain for training and tactics. Ash was surprised that Brock really wanted to become a breeder, considering the potential for a great gym leader, it was almost a waste, but that was no reason for him to not be able to pursue his goals.

The main problem with Brock, which really annoyed Misty, was his panic to get a girlfriend. Whenever he went gar-gar over a girl, which happened every time they passed someone who was a female adult or close to it, and looked half reasonable, Misty would have to drag him off by the ear. Ash just found the whole thing amusing, but he did feel sorry for the poor girl who just looked confused about what was going on. She just shook her head and fled, or quite a few did.

On the trip down route 4, Ash battled a few trainers and he won quite a few, though there were a lot he didn't win. But Ash didn't mind losing, it would stop him from getting overconfident and arrogant.

The trainers Ash battled included a beauty and a female ace trainer, both whom Brock really liked, which Misty had to drag him away from them, Ash battled a lass too, but she was a bit young for Brock's taste, fortunately.

The beauty (Belle) was relieved when Misty dragged Brock off, and Belle told Ash afterwards she was married. Unlike what happened with the ace trainer where Misty had to be prepared to grab him again, Brock lost interest in Belle as soon as he heard she was married.

Charmander was as close as ever to evolving; he was so close it was agonising. Charmander had learnt Dragon Rage as a result of him levelling up, and focus punch and metal claw were so close to being mastered. Ash was really happy with the results.

Butterfree enjoyed finally being able to battle with true power and had learnt several new moves including poison powder, stun spore and sleep powder. Ash had started getting Butterfree to learn Psybeam, which wouldn't be too hard as it was a similar move to confusion.

Phanpy had nearly mastered bulldoze, which was not surprising considering it was a move the same type as Phanpy. Ash hadn't started teaching Phanpy anything new yet, though. Over that time he had learnt natural gift, and Ash was toying with teaching Phanpy earth power.

Pidgeotto had mastered steel wing over the journey, and in the short time they stopped to rest, Ash started trying to teach him detect. The bird was struggling with the attack and was getting very, very mad as a result. So mad it trounced Misty's poor Staryu spectacularly in a battle. Pidgeotto had also learnt twister as a levelling up move.

They did general training to improve stats on top of that, and Brock and Misty had trained with them, which included practice battles. Ash noted Goldeen was starting to look like she was close to evolution, which excited Misty. Ash had beaten Misty in a battle, but currently, she was too young by five months to give out badges without her sisters overseeing.

"How long will it take us to cross Mt Moon, guys?" Ash asked. He wasn't sure about Brock, but he knew Misty had been through here at least once.

"It took me a day, starting quite early," Misty said.

"That would seem about right if the map is correct. Unless you wanted to see the Moon Stone, that would make our journey take longer. It would be at least a week by the time we actually found it," Brock said, reading the map. They had been on the road for a day, including a stop overnight. They were expecting to arrive at the foot of the mountain in a couple of hours.

"It would be nice if we could. We would be more likely to find rare Pokémon then, too!" Ash said, getting excited.

"That is true the rarer ones to tend to stay away from the main path in the mountains. That can also be to do with mining," Brock nodded.

"Mining?" Ash asked, looking confused.

"Char?" Charmander said perking up. From an older Charizard at Oak's lab, he had heard of Mega Stones, which were usually found in caves, or so the Charizard believed. Maybe that's what they mined? Whatever mining meant: Charmander certainly had no idea.

"Yes: Mt Moon is well known for being a fossil hot-spot, not to mention several other rare stones of been found there," Misty supplied.

"Wow," Ash nodded.

"Char! Char!" Charmander cried.

"It would be great to find something like that, don't you think, Charmander?" Ash asked his partner, and Charmander nodded.

An hour and a half later, they came to the Pokémon centre at the end of route 4. It was just a Pokémon Centre in the middle of nowhere, which basically looked like it had been dumped there. There was not even a training ground, instead, everyone was training out the front and all around it.

"Wow: you would have thought they would have built a bit more considering a lot of people come through here," Ash commented.

"Not really: it is only a place for people to heal their Pokémon and rest before Mt Moon. Pewter City is not that far away after all, and Cerulean is just on the other side," Misty pointed out.

"I suppose," Ash nodded as they walked closer. Then he asked, "Are we just going to heal our Pokémon here then head off?"

"No. Considering it's getting late, let's stop for the night," Brock suggested. It was getting quite late in the day, the sun was starting to set.

"Are you sure you're not saying that just to get more time with Nurse Joy?" Misty asked, rolling her eyes. Brock (smartly) ignored her.

They walked up to the centre door and went in. There were a few people here and there, but it could almost pass off as being abandoned. A very cheery and positive Nurse Joy came out then.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Centre! What can I do for you today?" Nurse Joy said, bowing to them. Brock suddenly charged over to her and grabbed her hand.

"Hello, Nurse Joy! I have this increased throbbing in my heart, and only you can fix it!" Brock declared. As he went to say something else, Misty had reached him and grabbed his ear.

"Save it for someone who cares, Brock: besides, there was nothing wrong with your heart five minutes ago," She said, dragging him off. Nurse Joy just looked confused and bamboozled about the whole thing.

Ash just chuckled, then said, "Don't mind him. We would like our Pokémon healed and two rooms please." He was assuming that Brock wouldn't mind sharing with him. Ash then showed Nurse Joy his trainer identification.

"Of course, Ash. Just put your pokémon on this tray," Nurse Joy nodded, collecting three pokéball trays. Ash returned Charmander and started placing his Pokémon on one as the others came over.

After they had given her their Pokémon, a Chancy came up and took them off. "Here: room three and four, if that's okay," Nurse Joy said, handing them two keys.

"That would be good. Thanks, Nurse Joy!" the three trainers nodded, Ash and Misty taking the keys. They then decided to head upstairs.

After putting their bags down, they decided to go and eat something in the cafeteria. When they finished, it was five in the afternoon. Ash decided, considering his Pokémon were not back yet, it was a bit late to do any training that day. He rang his mum and Professor Oak instead, with there being some time to kill before dinner.

"Hi mum!" Ash said as he got onto Delia Ketchum.

"Hi, honey! Who are they behind you?" she asked, referring to Misty and Brock.

"Ah, these are Misty Waterflower and Brock Boldson. You two, this is my mum," Ash said.

"Nice to meet you," Misty nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Ketchum," Brock said politely.

"Nice to meet you both! But please, call me Delia. Is Ash behaving?" Delia asked, much to Ash's dismay.

"Yes, he is," the older trainers nodded.

"Good," Ash's mother nodded happily.

They chatted for a little longer until it was time to hang up. "Now, Ash, don't forget to—" Delia went to say before Ash said rather loudly.

"Mum! Don't! I know!" he cried, knowing what she was going to say.

"Don't forget to change your underwear every day!" she said, giving Ash a knowing look. Brock and Misty found this very funny and were trying not to laugh.

"Bye!" Ash said, sighing. He was grateful she didn't spill the beans about him having to take medication.

Then a thought crossed his mind, "Is that any better?"

He then rang Professor Oak, which confirmed that Professor Elm thought that bird Ash had seen was indeed Ho-oh. Misty and Brock were in awe of that fact. After chatting a little longer to the professor they hung up, collected their Pokémon then went and had dinner.

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Before heading off the next morning, Ash decided to get some training done with his Pokémon, as he fancied the idea they wouldn't be getting much done over the next part of the journey. He did speed training with Phanpy, and worked on the moves he was learning with his levelling up. Ash worked on defence and new moves with Butterfree. Charmander was working on the in-progress moves and strength, and Pidgeotto was working on being able to battle on the ground, and the moves he was still learning.

When Ash finished, he left his Pokémon with Nurse Joy to meet up with Misty and Brock in the cafeteria. They had arrived by the time Ash had. Just as Ash reached the table, his legs gave way and he fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Brock asked as he and Misty jumped up.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just cool it," Ash said putting his hands up to stop the others from coming closer. Then slowly, he stood up.

"What happened?" Misty asked as they all sat down.

"My legs gave way. Have you two ordered yet?" Ash asked, changing the subject quickly.

"No," they both shook their heads.

"What do you want, then? I'll go and get it," Ash offered.

"Okay, well," Misty said, rattling off what she wanted. Ash remembered Brock and Misty's orders after Brock had said his, then Ash went up and ordered.

When he got there, he remembered Brock's and half of his own, (his drink,) but he couldn't remember what he wanted to eat or what Misty wanted, so he had to go back to check the menu and ask her. He did get it right in the end though.

After eating, Ash collected his Pokémon then went to get his backpack from their room. After checking their rooms for anything they might have missed, they headed downstairs and handed the keys over to Nurse Joy as they left.

"Be careful crossing Mt Moon: something's disturbing all the wild Pokémon up there, apparently. The Pokémon League are yet arrive and sort it out, but they're coming, I hope," Nurse Joy warned.

"Really? We'll be careful," Ash nodded. To keep on his mother's good side, he would need to stay safe.

"Yes," the other two agreed. After leaving the Pokémon centre, they made their way up a short steep climb to the entrance of the cave part of Mt Moon. Ash, about then, released Charmander and Butterfree. The three chatted and they decided, considering the nurses' warning, they wouldn't try and see the moon stone this time through the caves.

"What do you think about what Nurse Joy said?" Ash asked.

"It's worrying if it's true," Misty nodded. All three of them were concerned.

"Look! Those Zubat are all mad!" Brock said, pointing to a flock of Zubats up ahead just in the entrance of the cave. They were flapping around madly, and as they got closer, they could see the zubats were very, very mad.

"What do we do?" Misty asked, watching them flap about.

"There's no way we could get past them unhurt," Brock said, thinking.

"Butterfree, do you think you could blow them away with gust?" Ash asked Butterfree.

"Bre," Butterfree nodded.

"Great idea, Ash! It will be harmless to them and move the flock on!" Brock said as if he had a light-bulb moment.

"Butterfree, gust!" Ash called.

"Bre!" Buterfree said, taking to the air (she had been on Ash's should until that point,) and used gust.

Like Ash and Brock had thought, it blew the zubats further into the cave, where they would hopefully not have to cross them again. One somehow got missed, and flew above them, chirping happily. Unlike its friends, it seemed to be happy.

"Err, what the?" Misty asked, looking at the zubat confusedly.

"Compared to the others, this one seems quite calm and happy," Ash remarked.

"Yes, it does. What's up, Zubat?" Brock asked it.

"Zu, zubat!" Zubat cried, landing on Brock's arm.

"It seems to really like you, Brock," Ash remarked.

"Maybe you should catch it?" Misty suggested.

"What do you say, Zubat?" Brock asked it.

"Zu!" Zubat cried, nodding. That was what it wanted.

"Alright, hold on," Brock said, pulling out an empty Pokéball.

"Zu!" Zubat cried, flying into it.

After the Pokéball engulfed Zubat, it rocked twice in Brock's hand before the light went out. "I caught a Zubat!" Brock said, holding his arm with the Pokémon right up into the air.

"Great job! Though it must be the world's easiest capture," Misty commented while Ash pulled his Pokédex out. Despite it all, she thought it was odd the bat had seemed very happy and had been quite friendly compared to his comrades.

Zubat, the bat Pokémon, and a female on level seven. It Emits Ultrasonic cried while it flies: they act as a sonar used to check for objects in its way."

"Thanks for that information, Ash. Can you find out what she knows?" Brock asked, releasing Zubat again.

"Bat!" Zubat cried cheerfully, looking happy on Brock's shoulder.

"Absorb, Supersonic and Astonish," Ash responded.

"Reasonable enough, but still plenty of room for improvement," Brock nodded at Zubat, who just responded with a cheerful cry.

"Shall we continue?" Misty asked impatiently. The two boys nodded, and they continued on into the caves.

"I wonder why your zubat wasn't as mad as the others?" Ash wondered.

"Maybe it hadn't gone near, or been affected yet by whatever made the others upset," Brock suggested.

"Hmm," was all Misty said.

The walk was quiet, too quiet for the most part. They didn't run into any trainers, and the Pokémon they did meet were charging around as if they were panicked, or something was upsetting them.

"Something is definitely wrong here," Ash commented. The others were silent but nodded.

It was then they came across a group of three trainers. A male ace trainer, a girl with red hair, and a boy with Pikachu on his shoulder. When they saw Ash, Misty and Brock, they flagged Ash and co down.

"Hello," Ash greeted.

"Do you guys know what is happening?" Brock asked, thinking it was worth a shot.

"None in the foggiest. What about you guys? Do you have any ideas? I'm Ritchie Hikarah and this is Sparky," Ritchie said. The pikachu on his shoulder gave a small cry to say hello.

"Something further on is upsetting all the wild pokémon who are coming down here to try and get away: if not up there, why else wouldn't we be able to work it out by now? Besides, the pokemon normally like to hang around further along. Another worrying thing is, where are the trainers? Normally a lot of hikers, bug-catchers and other trainers like that hang around in here. I'm Ryan Greathorn," the ace trainer said.

"I'm Skyla White," the only girl of the group said.

"I'm Brock Bolderson," Brock greeted.

"My name is Ash Ketchum! This is my starter Charmander," Ash said cheerfully.

"My name's Misty Waterflower. Are you travelling together?" Misty asked.

"No: after hearing the rumours of the pokémon acting up and seeing them, we decided to find someone to cross the mountain with which is how we met," Ryan explained.

"Considering none of us knows what's going on, how about we band together for a while?" Brock suggested, and everyone else thought it was a good idea, so they started travelling onward in a large group of six plus three pokémon. Of course, they started chatting then too.

Ryan was quite the prodigy and had a lot of badges already, and he was heading over to see the researcher Bill to do some work for him. Ryan seemed to be quite interested in learning about Ash, Misty and Brock: Brock thought Ryan was the type to observe others and try and work out what their future would be like. He had come from a small town called Maiden's Peak.

Ritchie was on a similar quest to Ash and he was from the Saffron City area, but after getting thrashed by all the gyms except for Celadon, Ritchie decided to take a plane to Viridian City and go on to Pewter City from there. He currently had two badges, and Brock thought the boy was a more laid-back version of Ash.

Skyla was from a city in Unova; she was from a family of pilots, and she desired to become one herself. She had two badges, and had challenged Lt Surge, but had been beaten spectacularly, so she decided to come back this way for some training. Despite it all, she was quite arrogant.

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A little further on, Brock's Zubat started to get upset, along with Charmander and Sparky. Ash thought he could feel vibrations through the ground, too, as did the others when he remarked upon it. "Zubat, Charmander, they're both upset," Ash said, looking worried. Butterfree seemed to be okay for the moment.

"Let's return them," Brock suggested. After Ash nodded, they returned Charmander and Zubat to their balls. Ritchie tried to return Sparky to his ball, but he wouldn't go in.

"Sparky, please! What do I do?" Ritchie asked the others in dismay.

"Put Sparky in your bag, because that should soften it a little. I'd suggest earplugs except I'm guessing no one has any," Ryan said thoughtfully, and everyone shook their heads. Ritchie nodded and did as Ryan suggested.

"We still don't know what's causing it," Misty commented as they moved on.

"Considering the vibrations are getting stronger, I'd say we'll soon find out," Brock said.

"Why hasn't butterfree being affected though?" Ash asked.

"Bree?"

"Bug types are different: it is said they can big up different sound waves to other pokémon, but not be able to pick up some which any other type can pick up. Steel has also shown up similar results, and that can depend on the cave and area too, considering the Paris and those Aron we saw are all looking fairly relaxed, maybe Mt Moon has minerals in its walls that are protecting those types in this instance," Ryan said thoughtfully.

As they rounded the next corner, they spotted two people dressed in black, with white boots, and a red R on the front of their shirts. Ryan was the first to see them, and only Ash was in front. Ryan whispered to the others, then grabbed Ash and they all hid behind a rock, though Ash was dragged there. "They're probably from Team Rocket!" Misty hissed.

"Who else dresses like that?" Skyla put in.

"They are! What do we do?" Ash asked.

"In case there are more, let's ambush them," Brock suggested. He was not sure about this: it didn't seem safe, but they couldn't just leave Team Rocket there, and this would be the safest way of dealing with them.

"Can't we just straight out battle them? All of us against them, they wouldn't stand a chance," Skyla said, whining.

"Too risky, Skyla. They will have plenty of time to notify their friends, and who knows how many of them are elsewhere. Brock's idea is the best," Ryan said, yet again agreeing with the tall gym leader.

"So, what do we do?" Ritchie asked.

"Ash, does your butterfree know any psychic moves?" Ryan asked, and Ash nodded. "Okay, you and I will get our pokémon stun the grunts. Kadabra, come out! Misty, Brock, Ritchie, Skyla, can you serve as a distraction?"

"Sure," Misty nodded.

Misty, Skyla, Ritchie and Brock slowly moved around, trying to keep hidden. When they had found more cover behind different rocks, then they made sounds to attract the two rocket grunts. They were careful to just make suspicious sounds to not be obvious they were humans. The two grunts slowly kept up.

"Quick! Confusion then stun spore!" Ash told Butterfree as the grunts closed in on Brock and co's location. Ryan asked for confusion from his Kadabra at the same time.

"Bree!" Butterfree said, flying up and sending that attack at them and Kadbra released the attack also. Then Brock and Misty stood up and pushed them both back to the ground. Ritchie and Skyla rushed forward to tie them up with climbing rope they had.

With both grunts stunned they were easy to tie up, but then they were all confused on what to do next. After five minutes of standing around, muttering and wandering about like headless chooks, trying to work out what to do. Misty, in the end, came up with the answer.

"Let's continue, but slowly and carefully," she suggested, and the others nodded.

As they continued on they met at least eight other grunts, which they had to battle before they could be tied up. Being mostly poison types, Butterfree and Kadabra made short work of the grunts with confusion, along with Starmie's psychic, and Brock's Geodude against a zubat and a golbat. Sparky and Skyla's Tranquil had a bit of a harder time. With the exception of a pair of golbat, all Pokémon fainted in under seven moves.

The vibrations could now be identified as sounds from a powerful machine, probably a drill, Brock was guessing, and Ryan agreed, though they had been suspecting something like that all along. Brock had been on a dig once, several years ago, and the drills they had used there were similar to this.

"There is something going on in the next room," Brock stated as they walked down a tunnel. They could feel the vibrations still, though they were not upsetting the pokémon, and they could hear people talking.

"What should we do? Should we find back-up?" Ash asked.

"Shh! I can hear some talking!" Misty hissed.

"And it's close too," Ritchie remarked.

"Honestly, how much longer do we have to stand here for?!" an annoyed female voice said.

"Until they're finished digging fossils up, but only a few more days. Our job is to grab any trainers that walk through this door and steal their Pokémon!" Another female said brightly.

"What did they want the fossils for, again? To get rare and cool Pokémon?" grunt A asked.

"Yes, and to sell for high prices. Not to mention there is always the chance of digging up a Mega Stone," grunt B said.

"I'd love to get my hands on one of those!" grunt A said longingly.

"I know. Even if some did get dug up, we'd have to go up about a million ranks for that to happen!" grunt B moaned.

"Well, there's more of a chance for us then Jessie, Meowth and James," grunt A pointed out.

"True!" the other responded.

"They're waiting to ambush us! What do we do?!" Misty asked.

"Let's get Onix to use dig, and make them sink into the ground," Brock suggested.

"Kadabra can use teleport, too, and surprise attack," Ryan suggested.

"Okay, but we need to rescue the trainers! Let's make a plan!" Skyla said.

"This is very risky, though! Maybe we should run back and get help at the Pokémon centre. We don't even know if they have trainers yet," Misty suggested.

"We can't leave them, though! For all we know, in the time it takes us to get help, they could have moved on, with those poor trainers' stolen Pokémon! And what might they do to the trainers?!" Ash said, losing all other trains of thought and going into hero made.

"That is true. The is a chance they could even kill them," Ryan nodded.

"And there is a narrow chance none wouldn't have come by," Brock added.

"This is scary," Skyla said, showing she was not quite so brave as she had first acted.

"We'll all look after each other," Ritchie said cheerfully.

The others nodded, seeing Ash and Ryan had a point, and Brock had some ideas to add. They waited a few seconds, and then retraced their steps to where they would defiantly not be overheard, then started planning a rescue.

So, yeah, Ash meets Ritchie earlier in this, and Skyla was just to add a little more... I don't know, something when Ash goes to Unova and meets her as a gym leader not really doing her job. And then Ryan, well knowing another older trainer might be handy later on. Next chap more on Team Rocket, and helping bring them down.

PS: I do not own pokemon, and some things in this story maybe ideas burrowed or based off things from other stories.