"Spearow, Fury Attack!" commanded Orange.
"Z4, use your own Fury Attack!" said Orange's Bug Catcher opponent.
The enemy's Z4 sprouted several sharp stingers all over its body and threw itself through the air, though Orange's Spearow took no notice as it flew up high and attempted to dive-bomb its own trainer.
"Hey! HEY!" roared Orange as he narrowly avoided being skewered by his own Spearow. "Not me, Spearow! Attack the enemy!"
"...OK..." the Bug Catcher said slowly, as he realized that the battle wasn't likely to go anywhere fast. "I'm just gonna... leave now." He then proceeded to withdraw Z4 back into its Poké Ball and slowly walk away.
"Hah! I win again! You forfeit! I win aga-OW!" Orange exclaimed as Spearow slammed into him. "Spearow, return!"
Once Spearow was back in its Poké Ball, Red and Violet approached him. Orange grinned at his companions.
"Another victory for me!" he said. "That's four in a row now!"
"They didn't forfeit," sighed Violet for what felt like the trillionth time that day. "They knew your Spearow wasn't gonna attack their Pokémon, so they just left."
"Hey, they're the ones with no patience!" Orange said. "They leave, they forfeit!"
"Orange?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Though Orange stopped talking, he still shot a glare at Violet as the trio continued walking.
The scenery changed somewhat. Though it still looked as random as ever, there was more rock than ever mixed in with the weird square puddles of water, stacks of roofing tiles, and tall trees that looked like they were shoddily built out of fragments of drywall, chunks of brick, ice cubes, and tin cans. Then, Red saw it.
"Whoa," he murmured. For at that point, the ground looked as if it had been cracked open, on a massive scale. The resulting chasm was several miles across, easily.
"Yep," nodded Orange. "This is Moon Canyon."
The walls of Moon Canyon looked very much like the ground on which they walked- random chunks of rock, dirt, grass, odd and out-of-place puddles of water, and the occasional number. Numerous large holes could be seen in various parts of the walls, presumably leading to a network of underground tunnels.
"So how do we get across?" asked Red.
"Oh! I got it!" exclaimed Orange. "Maybe if we get up a good running start, we can jump across it! What?" he added defensively, for Red and Violet had both turned to him with odd expressions on their faces.
"Orange, a Hitmonlee wouldn't be able to make that jump," Violet said. "You can't seriously think you'd be able to."
"Wait a minute," Red said thoughtfully. "I got an idea. What if we just have Q float us across with its psychic powers?"
"Huh... that's actually a good idea," nodded Violet.
"Yeah!" added Orange.
"Nope," came a gruff voice from behind the trio. Simultaneously, they wheeled around to find themselves face-to-face with a very bulky man in hiking gear. "'Fraid that won't work. You ain't the first trainers with ideas like that, I'll have you know."
"Who are you?" asked Red.
"Name's Marc," replied the man. "I'm a hiker, see. Came out to Moon Canyon for a little fun. Gonna climb down one side, then go up the other. That's yer best bet, far as getting across this thing is concerned."
"I'm no good at that sort of thing," Violet said quietly. "Why didn't they just build a bridge across it anyway?"
"They did," Marc said. "Only thing is, there weren't enough funds, so they had to go with one of them cheap rope bridges. Snapped like a twig just two weeks back. Just glad no one was hurt, it had just been due to some Zubat gnawing on the ropes."
"So why don't they fix it?" asked Orange.
Marc shrugged. "Damned if I know," he said. "Probably they realized that kind of bridge weren't that safe, and they're saving up to build something more reliable."
"Wait a minute," Red said. "Why wouldn't using Q's psychic powers to float across the canyon work anyway?"
"Ah, now, as fer that, I can't really say for sure. Telekinetic power never seemed to work right around this canyon. Some say it was cause of that giant Moon Stone what formed this thing to begin with, but I dunno. So anyways, I dunno about you, but I'm climbing my way across that canyon." With that, he headed towards the edge and slowly began to climb down. Red peered over the side and saw that Marc was taking advantage of places where the rocks and numbers jutted out of the canyon's sides, using them to climb down the sheer slope as if it were a ladder.
"That doesn't look too hard, actually," said Red. "What say we give it a shot?"
"I dunno," Orange said warily.
"Orange, stop being such a wuss," snapped Violet. "Red's right, it looks a lot easier than I thought it would be. What's the worst that can happen?"
Though still clearly uncertain about the whole thing, Orange relented. Red started down the side of the canyon, followed by Violet, who was followed by Orange. Red was right- it was easy. The rocks and numbers that jutted out proved to be more than capable of supporting their weight, and were very easy to grip. About halfway down, however, a loud cracking noise could be heard from above Red, followed by Orange's mutter of "Uh-oh."
"I'm almost afraid to ask-" began Red before Orange, having accidentally dislodged a seven with his foot, lost his balance completely and fell onto Violet, who fell onto Red, sending the three trainers plummeting into the abyss.
Down they fell, until with a great SPLASH, they landed in what appeared to be a small pond at the bottom of the canyon, except it seemed to be immeasurably deep. As Red climbed out, he saw Violet doing the same. Then he looked around and realized who was missing.
"Where's Orange?" asked Red.
"Oh, no," gasped Violet. "He can't swim! And these things can get up to fifty feet deep!"
"Oh, man," said Red as Violet got ready to jump back into the water, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Oh, damn! Violet, we gotta do something."
"I'm gonna jump in after him," Violet declared as she approached the edge of the water. Just as she bent her knees and prepared to jump, however, a familiar redheaded figure broke through the surface of the water.
"Orange!" Red exclaimed. "Are you OK- What in the hell are you riding?" For beneath Orange was a strange cubelike being, three feet in every direction, with a blocky and random pattern of various shades of blue all over its body. Out of sheer curiosity, Red held his Pokédex out.
"LM4, the Bubble Cube Pokémon," droned Red's Pokédex. "Though famed for its violent battle style, LM4 is kind-hearted. It will always try to rescue any drowning human it encounters."
"L M," cooed LM4, happy that Orange was OK.
"Hey, guys!" grinned Orange. "Sorry about that. That was awesome, LM4 saved me!"
"I'm glad you're OK," said Red, grinning back. Violet, too, was smiling, though she remained quiet. LM4 drifted to the edge of the deep pond, allowing Orange to climb back onto dry land.
"Thanks, LM4," Orange said as the trio began to walk across the bottom of the canyon, making for the other side. They were shortly stopped, however, by Marc.
"You kids OK?" he asked. "I'd have helped out, only I couldn't climb down no faster."
"Yeah, we're fine, thanks," Violet said. "We-"
At that moment, however, a tremendous explosion rocked the entire canyon, coming from the trio's left. Red led the way as they ran over to see what was happening. Once the dust had settled, they could see a group of men, dressed in identical purple outfits, the shirts all emblazoned with a large, orange "E".
"Hey, what's going on here?" demanded Orange. This caused them to notice the trio.
"Hey! What are you kids doing here?" snapped one of the men, stepping forward, a Poké Ball in his right hand. "We're in the middle of an important mission here, so beat it!"
Violet, however, gasped. "Orange!" she breathed. "That's Team Error!"
"Oh, so you've heard of us, have you?" sneered another man. "Fans of ours, are you?"
"Hardly," Violet replied coldly. "I've heard of you, all right, the way you all cause all sorts of trouble, just like that Team Debug!"
At these words, many of the Team Error grunts let out low hisses.
"Do not compare us to those extremist nincompoops!" roared the first man. "Team Debug's goal is to wipe out entire races of Pokémon! We, the noble Team Error, exist to thwart the dastardly efforts of Team Debug!"
"So what do the explosions accomplish, anyway?" asked Orange.
"Simple," the second man replied. "Team Debug is funding research to have the fossils of ancient Pokémon restored, so we're trying to destroy all the fossils-"
"Idiot!" roared the first man, slapping the second grunt in the face. "What did you tell them that for? Don't you remember what the boss said? Never, never reveal our plans to outsiders!"
"Hey, what gives?!" said the second man defensively. "I didn't reveal our plan to... to... oh, I guess I kinda did, didn't I?"
The first man facepalmed. "I knew the boss was having trouble with finding good recruits, but this is ridiculous," he muttered.
"Uh, Jeff?" the second man said. "Don't we still gotta deal with these kids?"
"What do you mean, deal with us?" Orange exclaimed defiantly.
"I dunno. I mean, they can't be all bad, Larry," Jeff said fairly. "That LM4 there really seems to like the redhead."
"Hmm?" Orange said in surprise. He turned around, and sure enough, the LM4 from before was flopping around his feet, happily exclaiming "L! M! LM4!"
"Yeah, that's true," the second man, apparently called Larry, said. "It's rare to see a trainer that's so liked by Modern Pokémon."
"Modern Pokémon?" repeated Red questioningly.
"Yeah, Modern Pokémon," said Jeff. "The ones that are really geometric in shape. LM4, .4, 44Hy, and the like. Team Debug, see, hates those kinds of Pokémon, calls them Glitch Pokémon." Jeff made a distasteful face as he spoke those last two words. "They seem to think Modern Pokémon aren't natural, and prefer to stick with Old Pokémon, stuff like Raichu and Goldeen and Weezing. Still, for kids who like Modern Pokémon, why are you opposing us?"
"Well, for one thing, fossils belong in museums," stated Violet. "You're blowing up pieces of history."
"It's a little iffy, yeah," conceded Jeff, "but we got our orders. The boss wants us to stop Team Debug's plans before they start. Say, could we see the rest of the Modern Pokémon you all have?"
"OK..." said Orange as he took all the Poké Balls off his belt and threw them. "Come on out, everybody!"
The balls burst open and unleashed blasts of energy which formed themselves into Q, .4, and Spearow. Larry nodded approvingly at .4, but Jeff narrowed his eyes at the sight of Spearow.
"You dare possess an Old Pokémon?" he exclaimed. "What are you, a Debug loyalist or something?! You try to gain our trust with your Modern Pokémon, and then you pull this garbage?!"
"What's the difference, anyway?!" Orange exploded. "Pokémon are Pokémon! I'll admit Spearow and I don't get along that well, but I still love him the same as the rest of my team!"
Spearow, meanwhile, had paused in his ascent, which would probably have led to dive-bombing. Unknown to anyone else, he was listening to what Orange was saying.
"Well, then, we'll just have to teach you proper respect, won't we?" sneered Jeff as he threw a Poké Ball. "Go! pPkMnp!"
Jeff's Poké Ball unleashed into the open a black-and-white being with sparse blue and red markings. It was rectangular in shape, though it was more vertical than A had been. Its entire left side was cloaked in a sinister purple aura. It let loose a deep roar. Orange took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the creature.
"pPkMnp, the Fortress Pokémon," said the Pokédex. "pPkMnp moves slowly and cannot attack with much effectiveness. Its true strengths lie in its rock-solid defense. pPkMnp is of the Poison-type."
"This will be tricky, Orange," warned Violet. "Physical blows will do almost nothing to a pPkMnp!"
Before Orange could reply to this, LM4 had flopped its way in front of Orange. "Four!" it exclaimed defiantly.
"Wow," Red said. "Orange, I think LM4 wants to fight p... pkm... that thing!"
"I'd say so," Orange murmured. "Is this true, LM4?"
"L! LM!" LM4 exclaimed in an encouraging tone.
Orange then broke out into a wide grin as he consulted his Pokédex for a list of LM4's attacks. "Ooh," he muttered. "Lot of good ones here. All right, LM4! Water Gun!"
"Foooouuur!" bellowed LM4 as it let loose a stream of water from the front of its body.
"pPkMnp, use Sludge!" Jeff growled.
pPkMnp roared as a stream of thick, smelly, black liquid blasted forth from its body, meeting the Water Gun halfway. Neither move allowed the other to make any further progress, and the two combatants quickly ceased to use them.
"LM4, Quick Attack now!" Orange commanded.
With blinding speed, LM4 leapt off the ground and lunged at pPkMnp, only to bounce off the Poison-type's body with a resounding CLAAAAANG.
"Orange, I told you, physical moves won't do much to it!" Violet hissed.
"We got 'im now!" Jeff exclaimed. "Use Thunder!"
"Aurora Beam now!" Orange called desperately.
As pPkMnp's body crackled with electricity, LM4 unleashed a rainbow-colored ray from one of its corners, causing the Fortress Pokémon to roar in pain. It fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud, and moved no more.
"Nice one, LM4!" Orange exclaimed as Jeff withdrew his pPkMnp. Larry, however, took Jeff's place, throwing a Poké Ball of his own.
"Now it's my turn!" he declared. Go, 7g!"
In a flash of light, a small, pink cube with strange, dot-like black and white markings materialized. It floated in midair, appearing to be not much larger than a .4.
"G..." it muttered in a voice which suggested an overall lack of intelligence. Curious, Red held his Pokédex out at this newcomer.
"7g, the Slow Pokémon," it droned. "Though low in intelligence, it will always obey an order given to it. Even if ordered to use a move it does not know, it will attempt to use it anyway."
"LM4, you can't do this," insisted Orange. "You're a Water and Fighting-type, and 7g is a Water and Psychic-type. You're at a disadvantage."
"M!" replied LM4 defiantly as it made a motion similar to shaking one's head.
"Are you sure?" Orange asked.
"Four," was the response. This time, LM4 seemed to be nodding.
"Your funeral," said Larry. "7g, Confusion!"
"Seeeevvveeeeen..." yawned 7g as it unleashed a ray of blue Psychic energy.
"Dodge it with Quick Attack!" Orange exclaimed. Swiftly, LM4 bounded out of the way of the attack, then lunged at 7g and tackled it to the ground.
"Use Double-Edge, 7g!" roared Larry.
"LM4, PoisonPowder!" Orange commanded.
7g rose back into the air and prepared to slam into LM4, only to be met with a cloud of shimmering purple dust, sprayed from the four topmost corners of the cube that was LM4. 7g instead fell to the ground and began coughing.
"Let's wrap this up!" Orange shouted triumphantly. "Rolling Kick!"
"Foooooooooooooooooour!" LM4 called out as it bounded into the air. Out of its side sprouted a mass of glowing brown energy which formed itself into a foot-like shape. LM4 then began spinning around as it descended, and slammed its foot into 7g, plowing it into the ground.
Scowling, Larry withdrew his unconscious 7g. "This is not over," he said menacingly.
"Oh, I think it is," sneered Violet as she took out a Poké Ball of her own. "Flutters, use your Sleep Powd-"
"Error Smoke Screen!" one of the grunts randomly shouted as he threw a small, grey sphere to the ground. Almost before the Butterfree was clear of its Poké Ball, the smoke cleared, revealing the Error Grunts to have fled. Then, a familiar pinging sound could be heard from behind Orange and Violet- the sound of a Poké Ball successfully catching a Pokémon. Simultaneously, they turned around to spot Red gleefully scooping up a Poké Ball.
"Red, what's that?" asked Violet.
"Didn't you see me and LM4 battle?" asked Orange dejectedly.
"Of course I did," said Red. "But I saw that one of those rocks that was loosened by the explosion was about to flatten a wild Paras, so I did the first thing I could think of- I threw a Poké Ball at it. The ball knocked Paras out of the rock's path, and then caught it. OK, Paras, come on out," he added as he held out the ball. In a flash of light, a small, orange creature appeared. It had four small legs, and two larger front ones, which more closely resembled claws than anything else. A pair of large, beady eyes poked out of its front, directly above its small mouth. On its back sat a pair of small mushrooms.
"Paaaras?" squeaked the Pokémon, seeming to only just become aware that it was not about to be crushed by a falling boulder. Orange stifled a squeak as he hid behind Violet and held out his Pokédex.
"Paras, the Mushroom Pokémon," droned the device. "Paras burrows underground to suck on tree roots. Its mushrooms grow by absorbing nutrients from the bug host. Paras is a Bug and Grass-type."
"It's kinda cute," smiled Violet.
"It's kind of a Bug-type," shuddered Orange.
"Well, I like it," declared Red. "I was only trying to rescue it, but now that I see it up close, I kinda like this little guy." At these words, Paras happily climbed up onto Red's shoulder.
Orange opened his mouth, possibly to object to Paras's inclusion in the group, when a small cry of "Fooooour?" distracted him. He looked down to see LM4 gently nudging him.
"Wha- Ohhhh," smiled Orange as he knelt down to LM4. "You wanna come with me, don't you?"
"L! LM4!" exclaimed LM4 happily.
Now grinning widely, Orange took a Poké Ball out of his backpack and wordlessly tapped LM4 with it. The Bubble Cube Pokémon was transformed into transparent red energy and vacuumed into the sphere. The Poké Ball barely wobbled before making its telltale ping sound.
"All right!" Orange exclaimed. "I caught an LM4!"
"Cool, I guess," said Red as Orange withdrew Q, .4, and Spearow. "Truth be told, I'm still really weirded out by all these different Pokémon."
"You'll get used to them, Red," Violet said kindly. "I know, Tanko is still kind of a strange place to you-"
"Oh, come on," scoffed Orange. "What part of this place could possibly be considered strange?
"Orange?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."