Chapter 38 – Adventures at Mt. Mortar
When I awoke the next morning, there was a figure standing over us. I jumped back, which awakened Flamefox and Firestorm, who quickly leapt in front of me and took defensive stances. "What's going on?" May asked as she awoke, and then she saw the man standing over us. He was dressed in martial arts apparrel. Amber took a defensive stance in front of May. The man asked, "What are you children doing here?" I answered, "We were just camping here for the night. We're on our way to the Indigo Plateau for the Johto League finals!" He replied, "Ah, Pokemon trainers!" Then I asked, "How did you get so close to us without awakening our Pokemon? Vulpixes can sense a person approaching from a mile away!" He answered, "I am a ninja! I move in silence, in the shadows, unseen and unsensed by all! My name is Kiyo. I am known as the Karate Master in Kanto." May said, "Well, I'm pretty well instructed in martial arts, myself, so you better not try anything!" He laughed and said, "I wouldn't harm you or your Pokemon. I just come here, to Mt. Mortar, for meditation, deep inside the caverns of the mountain. I also train my Pokemon here, whenever I feel I need to get away from my dojo in Saffron City." I said, "We're going to Kanto after we finish the Johto League." He said, "Well then, maybe we can battle someday, at my dojo." I replied, "Why wait? I'll battle you right now!" He said, "Very well! Then let us battle. Two on two!" He took out his first pokeball and released Hitmonchan. I tossed my first pokeball and shouted, "Go, Scyther!" My mantis Pokemon stood, staring down the "punchy" Pokemon. "Use mega punch, Hitmonchan!" Kiyo ordered. I responded, "Block his punches with your scythes!" As Hitmonchan punched at Scyther, Scyther blocked each punch with his scythes! "Not bad, kid! Hitmonchan, use fire punch!" Kiyo commanded. Hitmonchan hit my Scyther with his flaming fist, and Scyther was knocked back! "Scyther, fight back with double team!" I shouted. He moved quickly, making it appear that there were several of him! "Hitmonchan, do the same! Use double team!" Kiyo ordered. I couldn't believe it – there were as many Hitmonchan as there were Scyther! "Now use mega punch, Hitmonchan!" he shouted. It was inevitable that Scyther would be hit. "Focus your energy, Scyther!" I shouted. I knew I only had one shot at this! As Hitmonchan came at Scyther, I yelled, "Use fury cutter!" Scyther started slashing his scythes, and Hitmonchan took the hit and was knocked to the ground! He started to sit up as I shouted, "Now finish it with headbutt!" Scyther flew quickly at Hitmonchan, and before he could stand back up, their heads collided! Hitmonchan fell back down to the ground, defeated! Kiyo said, "Hitmonchan, return!" and recalled him to his pokeball. I shouted, "Excellent work, Scyther!" and gave him a high five, before returning him to his pokeball. Kiyo then said, "Not bad, but I still have one more Pokemon! Go Hitmonlee!" he shouted, and released the "kicking fiend" from his pokeball. I responded, "Firestorm, he's yours!" My Ninetales walked over, ready to battle. "Firestorm, use dig!" I ordered. Firestorm quickly burrowed underground. "Hitmonlee, use endure!" Kiyo said. Hitmonlee just stood there, a sitting duck! When Firestorm erupted from the ground, it was a direct hit, and Hitmonlee was sent airborne, but he landed on his 2 feet, unfazed! "Hitmonlee, use mega kick!" Kiyo ordered. I shouted, "Firestorm, watch out! Use your agility!" Firestorm attempted to evade the attack, but their speed was almost equal, and Firestorm was struck by the attack! "Firestorm!" I shouted as he fell backwards to the ground. When he stood back up, I ordered, "Firestorm, try a fire blast!" He launched the t-shape of flames at Hitmonlee, but he jumped out of the way! Then Kiyo shouted, "Use double kick!" Firestorm was struck twice and fell over! This looked bad! Then I heard Kiyo shout, "Finish him with one more mega kick!" Firestorm forced himself to stand up, and as Hitmonlee ran at him, I shouted, "Firestorm, use hyper beam!" Firestorm launched his strongest attack, which I'm sure Kiyo never saw coming, and Hitmonlee was struck point blank! He filipped backwards to the ground and was knocked out! "Way to go, Firestorm!" I shouted and ran over to give him a hug. Then I gave him a vial of hyper potion while Kiyo recalled Hitmonlee. Then he said, "You are a most worthy opponent! You should do well in the Johto League." I replied, "Thanks!" May, Amber, and Flamefox walked over to me and Firestorm, and she said, "That was very impressive, Joe!" and I said, "Thank you, May!" Suddenly, we heard a sound coming from a river on the other side of the mountain. "Marrill, marrill!" we kept hearing. "What's all the commotion?" I asked, running over to see, along with Flamefox and Firestorm. Kiyo, May and Amber ran over to see, as well. In the river below, Marrill, lots of them, were swimming upstream. "They're swarming!" Kiyo told us. "Wow! I've never seen anything like this!" I exclaimed. May shouted, "How cute! And Marrill are only native to Johto! I want to go catch one!" Kiyo said, "Give them a few minutes, until the majority have passed. Then, when it calms down a bit, go challenge one!" May nodded in agreement. After a while, there were only a few Marrill coming through. May shouted, "Go, Raichu!" and released her large, orangish-tan electric mouse. As a Marrill passed, she commanded, "Raichu, use thundershock!" He launched the electric attack at the round, blue and white water mouse, and it was taken completely by surprise! It jumped out of the water, and hit Raichu with a water gun, spraying the stream of water in his face, which knocked him backwards to the ground. Raichu stood back up, and May shouted, "Use thunderbolt!" Before he could use the attack, Marrill puffed up in anger, then ran at Raichu and tackled him, knocking him again to the ground! As Marrill started to run off, May ordered, "Raichu, use thunder!" Raichu took in lightning from the sky, and launched it at Marrill! This time, Marrill was knocked out! "Lure ball, go!" May shouted, tossing the custom made pokeball at it. The ball engulfed Marrill in a white light before it was transported to Professor Elm's lab. "Good catch, May! I guess you must have met Kurt, too!" I exclaimed to her. She said, "Thanks, Joe. And I think everyone's met Kurt!" She then ran over to Raichu and picked him up to give him a big hug. Suddenly, we heard a boy shout, "Hey!" We all looked to see a boy who looked to be about 11 or 12, with long black hair and a red headband, green t-shirt, red shorts, carrying a huge backpack, and holding a pair of binoculars. He ran over to us. I asked, "Is there a problem?" He said, "Yeah, there's a problem, all right! I'm a Pokemon watcher! I was trying to watch the Marrill swarm and do some sketches, when your girlfriend here jumped in and started battling one!" May turned red and said, "I'm not his girlfriend! We're just friends! Anyway, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were watching and trying to sketch them." He said, "I came a long way to see this and I didn't appreciate having my observations interrupted by a Pokemon battle!" I said, "Geez, chill out, dude! She's well within her right to catch one! This isn't a protected area like the Safari Zone or something!" Kiyo interjected, "They are correct. This area is open for trainers to catch Pokemon. In fact, why don't you try to catch a Marrill while you're here? Swarms don't come through too often." He answered, "Well, I prefer to observe and sketch Pokemon in the wild, not capture them." He took out some sketch pads and showed us. "Those are very good!" May exclaimed. "Impressive!" I said. Then he said, "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. My name's Tracey." May and I introduced ourselves to him, as did Kiyo. Then Kiyo said, "Well, I must be on my way. Good luck at the Johto League!" and he retreated inside the mountain. "Wow, so you guys are on your way to the Johto League finals?" Tracey asked us. "Yeah. We're in training mode right now!" I replied. Then he asked, "Is it okay if I sketch your Vulpixes, Ninetales, and Raichu?" I said, "Sure!" May said, "Fine with me." Then I said, "In fact, would you like to sketch all of our Pokemon? We could let them out." He said, "That would be great!" So, we released the rest of our Pokemon and Tracey proceeded to begin sketching them all. The Pokemon enjoyed being out and Tracey was having a blast sketching them. He showed us his sketches when he was done. "Those are excellent!" I told him. "Yeah, you really have talent!" May said. All of his sketches were very good. He let us keep them! Then he said, "I think its impressive that you both have Vulpixes. They're listed as being rare in the pokedex." I remembered what I'd learned at Crimson Pokemon Academy as well as all the research I'd done on Vulpixes growing up, and I told him, "Actually, that's kind of misleading. In fact, Vulpixes are one of the most prolific, widespread Pokemon in the world! But they are very elusive! Seeing one in the wild is rare, because they can smell people approaching from a mile away, and their sense of hearing is very accute! And even if you find one in the wild, they are so fast, they can usually run out of sight before you release your first Pokemon! They're excellent at hiding, too! Not many wild Vulpixes are ever captured because of their cunning, which is the true reason for the 'rare' listing. Luckily, mine chose to follow me!" May said, "Yeah, and if it hadn't been for Raichu's excellent speed, I'd never have caught Amber!" Tracey said, "That's great! You know, all this talk about catching Pokemon has got me thinking – Marrill have a good sense of hearing with those round ears of their's. That would be a valuable assett to a Pokemon watcher like me! I think I will try to catch one after all!" I said, "That's the spirit!" May said, "But all the Marrill have already moved on. It'll take forever to track them down now!" Tracey said, "I have just the Pokemon!" and he released a Venonat. I quietly, sarcastically commented to May, "Ooo, a giant wingless fly! How impressive!" She elbowed me in the stomach, then walked over to Tracey along with Amber and said, "That's cool! You can use Venonat's big compounded eyes to help you spot Pokemon that are far away!" He said, "That's right! Venonat's a great tracking Pokemon! He'll find that Marrill swarm!" It replied, "Venonat!" and ran off. Tracey ran after it, and May and I began to follow, as well, once we recalled all of our Pokemon except for our fire foxes. I held my hand on my stomach as we ran and said, "Thanks a lot, May!" She said, "I'm sorry, but I had to shut you up! He could have heard you!"
Venonat led all of us to a clearing ahead, and there were some Marrill swimming up the river! "Good work, Venonat! Now go challenge one!" Tracey said. Venonat ran up to the river and used supersonic on one of the Marrill. It became confused. "Good job, Venonat!" Tracey shouted. However, the Marrill wasn't completely confused and managed to climb out of the water and launch a bubblebeam at Venonat, knocking it down! Venonat stood back up, and Tracey yelled, "Use stun spore!" Venonat released the stun spore, but Marrill simply diffused it with a water gun, and knocked Venonat back down in the process. "Venonat, tackle it!" Tracey ordered. Venonat ran at Marrill and tackled it, and both were knocked to the ground. Then Marrill rolled up, and started to use a rollout attack, rolling at Venonat and slamming into it! "Rollout gets stronger with every hit, Tracey! Be careful!" May warned him. He said, "I know. I think I have a plan!" Venonat was hit twice more, when Tracey shouted, "Venonat, try stun spore just one more time!" It did so, and Marrill was struck. It stopped rolling and lay there, paralyzed from the stun spore. Tracey tossed an empty pokeball, and it engulfed Marrill! "Yes! Good job, Venonat!" Tracey shouted. "Venonat!" it replied. May said, "Good catch, Tracey!" I said, "Yeah, Venonat WAS pretty impressive." Then he said, "With Marrill and Venonat on my team, we should be able to spot lots of Pokemon to observe and sketch! Who knows, maybe someday I'll see some wild Vulpixes!" I said, "Well, if you ever get a chance, try Pokemon watching in the Brushfire Woods! There's a good chance you'll see wild Vulpixes there! That's where Flamefox and Firestorm came from!" May said, "And the woods along routes 36 and 37! That's where I got Amber!" He said, "Thanks, guys! I'll do that! Well, it was nice to meet both of you!" I said, "Nice to meet you, too! Good luck! And thanks for the sketches!" May said, "Keep up the good artwork! I hope you get to see lots of Pokemon!" With that, we parted ways. May and I released our riding Pokemon and we proceeded ahead, accompanied by our fire foxes!