Chapter 12: And Then…
Clan Seigen. We had a name now (which I guess was better than nothing), but there wasn't anything we could do with it. I had never heard of Clan Seigen, despite all the other infamous names that had spread across the news like wildfire, such as Team Rocket, Team Galactic, etc. Maybe it was because those names usually weren't released until the organization had been upheaveled, but that didn't prevent me from feeling extremely suspicious. What could possibly be their objective?
"If we can't do anything to find them, then we'll just have to move on and wait for them to come to us," Riley had said. "What's the point of searching if we don't even know where to look?" Of course, know-it-all Riley was right, so we decided to pack up and make our way towards the second Gym, which lay in Cerulean City. However, we tried looking for Kai before we left, hoping to get some kind of hint from him that might advance our knowledge. We couldn't find him, though, and when we asked Nurse Joy at the front desk (feeling like a bunch of stalkers), she told us that he had already left at sunrise. Figures.
Without further ado, we departed for Mt. Moon the same morning. The three of us were pretty much expecting a mundane hike through the mountains, with sparse tufts of grass growing out between cracks in the stones and dull gray scenery surrounding us as far as the eye could see. By the end of our excursion...well, let's just say that we weren't very fond of mountains from then on.
First, we sat down for lunch, which Riley prepared while Lance and I went to refill our water bottles. However, when we got back, our lunch had disappeared. Apparently, a pack of Sandshrew had stopped by for a visit and had decided to take our meal along with them. Riley proceeded to chase down the small Ground types, even though Lance and I were running on empty stomachs all around the mountain just so Riley could hunt down the thieving Pokémon and teach them a good lesson. In the end, he managed catch one of the Sandshrew, but that didn't help us get our food back.
The next day, Lance somehow accidentally (don't ask me how) managed to anger a Cubone, which then began to attack us in a fit of rage. Just so you know, getting beat up by a Pokémon that uses a bone as its weapon and wasn't even one-fourth of your size isn't much fun. The three of us suffered at least a couple bruises each until Lance finally (make that, for once) took responsibility and caught the Ground type before it caused us any more damage. Waking up the next day didn't feel too good, as if that were the end to our problems.
Near the end of our trip, the worst of all our calamities occurred. While we were training, a stray Water Gun from Squirtle accidentally made its way into the mouth of a hidden cave. Little did we know that resting within that cave was a large, ill-tempered Rhyhorn who charged at us the minute it emerged from its covert. We didn't even have time to consider battling it because we were too focused on escaping (which wasn't easy considering the misshapen ground that shook with Rhyhorn's every step). We were chased all over the mountainside until we were forced to confront the enraged Pokémon. It took all three of us to subdue the ton-and-a half Pokémon before I finally threw the Poké Ball and ended our ordeal. Not my first choice for a catching method, but it wasn't like we had a choice either.
You can pretty much guess how the three of us were feeling when we finally stumbled into Cerulean City looking and feeling just as miserable as Kai was when we'd first seen him. We were so tired that we spent our first three days in the city recuperating. Fortunately, after that, we each managed to win our own Cascade Badge without any trouble, even though I (once again) didn't have much of the upper hand. After resting for another day, we departed for Vermillion City.
On the way there, Riley somehow managed to catch an Abra, despite the fact that their species were known for swift escapes. If I were to guess, I would've said that he simply threw a Poké Ball and got lucky. I assumed it was true, since Riley only got mad at the suggestion and didn't deny it. He wasn't much of a liar, just like Lance was.
Other than that, our journey since leaving Pewter was relatively peaceful. Clan Seigen vanished from our minds in the heat of travelling and battling, which we had wanted to do for so long. For that time being, our lives felt like clear skies without a cloud in sight.
Little did we know that the next storm was just over the horizon.
Author's Note: Yeah, I know, short chapter. Reason for that is because I'm building up for a major event (which you might have guessed based on the last lines of this chapter), and I wanted to get all of the less important stuff out of the way. It might take a while to get the next chapter out because of that, but I hope you'll enjoy it when it does.