Chapter 54 – A New Friend at Mount Moon
As May and I rode up the route that lead to Mt. Moon, accompanied by our Pokemon friends, Kadabra was up to his usual tricks, making flowers spontaneously appear in May's hair and in her hands. She just laughed, but whenever Kadabra showed himself, I just glared at him. "Kadabra, enough is enough!" I shouted. May replied, "Lighten up, Joe! I don't mind – really!" I just kind of angrily sighed again, when something in the fields ahead caught my eyes – it was pink, and as we got closer, I asked, "Is that a Jigglypuff up ahead?" May looked and said, "I don't think so. It looks more like – a Clefairy!" We couldn't believe our eyes! May exclaimed, "Oh, she's so cute!" I said, "I'm gonna catch her!" May then said, "Please, let me catch her, Joe! When I passed through Kanto last year, I was so distracted and sidetracked with Amber's pregnancy, that I didn't really take the time to look for or catch many Pokemon! And I've always wanted to catch a Clefairy!" I replied, "Okay! She's all yours, May!" She said, "Thanks, Joe!" Then she jumped off Fierymane and ordered, "Redfur, use flamethrower!" The Clefairy looked up and asked, "Clefairy?" Redfur ran at the fairy-like Pokemon, barking, "Grrrr owlithe!" Then he shot out the flamethrower from his mouth, but Clefairy jumped out of the way! She then jumped in front of Redfur and hit him with a double slap, knocking him back, onto the ground. "Redfur, try using bite!" May yelled. The Growlithe got back up and leapt at Clefairy, grabbing her arm with his teeth! Clefairy then pounded Redfur with her free hand, again sending him falling onto the ground! Then Clefairy held up her arms and began waving one finger on each hand back and forth, while chanting, "Clefairy, clefairy, clefairy…" I exclaimed, "May, that's metronome! This could either be really bad or really good!" As Redfur stood back up, shaking himself off, Clefairy was taking in sunlight! May shouted, "She's preparing for a solarbeam! Quick, Redfur, now's your chance! Use your take down attack!" Redfur ran at Clefairy and struck her hard, knocking her to the ground before she could finish taking in sunlight! Then May shouted, "Pokeball, go!" and tossed an empty pokeball at the fallen Clefairy! She was engulfed by the bright light of the pokeball, which then closed up and fell to the ground. It shook back and forth for a few seconds, then stopped. "Yay, we caught a Clefairy!" May exclaimed as her Growlithe leapt into her arms and she hugged him. As she walked over to pick up the pokeball, I said, "That was great, May!" May replied, "Well, I couldn't have done it without Redfur!" Before she got to it, the pokeball levitated into the air, and flew into May's hand! She said, "Thanks, Kadabra!" He materialized for a second, closed his eyes and smiled, then vanished again! Just then, we both heard a voice say, "That was most impressive!" We looked to see a boy, about a year or 2 older than us, with long, dark brown hair, plastic framed glasses, and a laptop computer strapped around his shoulder, in addition to a large backpack. May said, "Thanks! Who are you?" He answered, "My name is Simon." Then he said, "Joseph Ehlle and May Redfield! Wow, it's a pleasure to meet both of you!" May and I looked at each other in astonishment, then back at him, and asked him, "How do you know our names?" He answered, "Are you kidding me? You 2 are celebrities! After all, you each won a League championship apiece!" He opened up his laptop and said, "I can acess both of your battle records right here! I can tell you every Pokemon you used for each battle, their stats, and everything. I have to say, you both did very well for beginner trainers!" I said, "Thank you." May said, "That's a nice laptop you have there." He answered, "Thanks! It's state of the art. And since I modified it, I can do almost anything! It never leaves my side!" He sure wasn't kidding – he showed us our entire battle records at the Indigo Plateau! Afterwards, I asked him, "So, what are you doing here at Mt. Moon." He answered, "Just some research for my uncle, Seymour. He's a Pokemon scientist, and he's studying the Clefairy and a legendary meteor called the Moon Stone, which is believed to have crashed here at Mt. Moon in prehistoric times. He wants to come here, himself, as soon as he can, to find the Moon Stone, but he wanted a preliminary report from me. He has this wild theory that the Clefairy came from outer space. Just between you and me, the guy is a real geek. It's hard to believe we're related!" as he pushed his glasses up with his index finger, and then closed up his computer. May and I just kind of looked at each other and smiled, as Simon had come across as somewhat of a nerd, himself, but we kept our mouths shut. I then said, "But I've heard of Moon Stones, and that they're used to evolve Clefairy into Clefable. If that's the case, then someone must have already found the Moon Stone." Simon answered, "Fragments of it have been found and used throughout the years, but the original meteor has never been found. I'm gonna look around in the caves some more. Care to join me?" We said, "Sure!" The 3 of us and our Pokemon continued ahead, getting closer to the large hill known as Mt. Moon, until we were at it's base, and we entered one of the caves that led inside of it. It got darker as we progressed, and May opened up a pokeball, saying "Come on out, Fierymane!" The flames of her mane and tail lit up the dark cave. Simon took out a pokeball, as well, and said, "We could use your help lighting up the cave, too, Charizard!" The large, orange, dragon-like winged Pokemon materialized! "That is so cool!" I exclaimed. He said, "Thanks! Charizard was my first Pokemon – well, Charmander." May asked, "Do you have any other Pokemon?" He answered, "I have one other with me" and opened up his other pokeball to reveal a Magneton! "I have a few other Pokemon at home, but I'm not really training for League battles anymore. I decided to go into Pokemon research and computer tech, instead. Magneton comes in really handy for recharging the battery on my laptop. And Charizard can fly me anywhere at a moment's notice!" As we continued through the cave, we could see Paras, Zubats, and Sandshrews from the light of Fierymane's and Charizard's flames. Simon said, "You should catch yourself a Zubat! There's a lot of them around here, and they are pretty cool!" I said, "Thanks, but I caught some when I was in Johto." He said, "You can never have too many!"
Soon, we reached a crossroads – the cave went in 3 possible directions. "Great! Now which way?" I loudly asked. Flamefox, Firestorm, Amber, Redfur, and Inferno just kind of looked around, and Fierymane and Charizard just stood there. Simon said, "It will be dark out soon! We'd better find a way out of here!" May said, "I know!" and released her newly caught Clefairy! She looked up at May and asked, "Clefairy?" May asked, "Clefairy, can you lead us out of these caves?" Clefairy smiled at her and nodded, "Clefairy, Clefairy!" and then ran down the central cave. We all followed her. After a while, we saw light up ahead! We emerged from the cave we were in, into an open chamber. There was a large opening in the ceiling, and the moon shone through – we must have been walking through the caves longer than we thought! In the center of the chamber was a large, sparkling boulder! "That's the Moon Stone!" Simon exclaimed. We all looked in awe – it was beautiful under the moonlight, glowing and sparkling. May's Clefairy ran over to the wall, picked up a smaller moonstone fragment, and placed it by the boulder. It glowed some more. Suddenly, more Clefairy came out of hiding! They each brought small moonstone fragments to the larger boulder, and it glowed and sparkled more and more! Then they all started dancing around the boulder, chanting, "Clefairy, clefairy!" May said, "This is so wonderful! I'll bet we're the first humans to witness this!" Simon replied, "I believe we are! Wait until I tell my uncle!" As the moon dance went on, some of the Clefairy began to glow! Then they evolved into Clefable! "This is amazing!" Simon exclaimed. He set up a camera on his laptop and started filming. "Are you sure that's wise? Maybe the Clefairy and Clefable don't want to be filmed!" He said, "Don't be ridiculous! This is only for research. I'm sure they don't mind!" May's Clefairy ran over to May, and said "Clefairy, clefairy!" May asked her, "Are you having fun, Clefairy?" She nodded, and returned to the moon dance. May watched them as they continued. Simon and I, and our Pokemon, also all watched. It was quite an amazing sight. Then I walked over to May and asked, "Care to dance?" She answered, "I would love to!" and we danced among the Clefairy and Clefable, under the moonlight. May looked even prettier than usual under the light of the moon and the sparkling of the moonstone. As it got later, the Clefairy and Clefable began singing. We all got very drowzy and drifted off to sleep.
The next day, we all awoke, but we were exactly where we had started from! "How did we get here? Kadabra?" I asked loudly. May answered, "I don't think Kadabra had anything to do with it. Look!" Kadabra was asleep on the ground next to me, in a deep sleep. Simon said, "I think the Clefairy and Clefable did this! They also erased the footage I filmed of them on my computer!" I asked, "I wonder why?" May found Clefairy's pokeball next to her, and opened it. Clefairy appeared! May exclaimed, "Clefairy, you're still here!" Then she asked her, "The Clefairy and Clefable that live here don't want to be disturbed, do they?" Clefairy nodded. I said, "I had a feeling. They let us witness their moon dance, but they don't want us to remember how we got there. Still, it was nice of them to let us watch." Simon then said, "Clefairy are a mysterious Pokemon. I guess they want to remain a mystery. Well, my uncle is on his own as far as finding the Moon Stone whenever he decides to come out here." I then said, "I guess we should get going to Cerulean City now!" May looked at Clefairy and said, "I'm sorry, Clefairy. I shouldn't have captured you. Go on now, go back to your friends." Clefairy looked at May, confused, and asked, "Clefairy?" May said, "You're free! Go on!" Clefairy shook her head, and jumped into May's arms. I said, "It looks like she wants to stay with you, May!" May asked Clefairy, "Really? You want to come with me?" Clefairy nodded, and exclaimed, "Clefairy, clefairy!" May hugged Clefairy and said, "Thanks, Clefairy!" With that, I opened Tauros' pokeball and mounted on him, while May mounted on Fierymane. Simon said, "I have to head off, too. Maybe we'll run into each other somewhere else in Kanto!" I said, "I sure hope so!" May said, "Yeah, it was really nice to meet you, Simon! Good luck!" He said, "Thanks! It was nice meeting you guys, too!" Then he got onto Charizard's back, and they flew off. Kadabra came out of his deep sleep and vanished. I asked May, "Think we'll run into him again?" She said, "Something tells me we will." With that, our Pokemon galloped us off in the direction of Cerulean City.