Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Thirteen

The Green Monster

After leaving Cerulean City, Ashley and Rina continued on their way towards the Rock Tunnel. They stopped just outside a small pokecenter set up just outside the cave, setting up a tent each and sleeping outside for the night. The next morning, they dropped off their tents at the center and prepared to head off into the Rock Tunnel.

"Its kinda different, going into a pokencenter and not getting my pokemon healed." Ashley commented to Rina as they were leaving the center. Bulbasaur and Pippi followed behind them.

"Yeah, but they had a full night's sleep and didn't have much action since we left Cerulean City yesterday anyway." Rina replied to her. "I don't really trust those machines anyway, so I'd rather it this way. Doesn't a machine that can only function while a pokemon is in its pokeball strike you as the least bit suspicious?"

"I don't think too hard on it." Ashley replied with a shrug, looking off ahead of them. "So thats the Rock Tunnel...it looks like its as dark as people say it is..." Up ahead was a large rocky hill that seemed to go on for miles, and in the side of the hill was the entrance to a cave. Inside the cave it was pitch black, not even a hint of light.

"Wow...it really does..." Rina blinked in disbelief. "I don't even think the light goes very far past the entrance! Its a good thing we both have an electric pokemon with us..."

"-What am I supposed to do anyway?-" Pippi asked, tilting her head to the side.

"You just have to keep sparks flowing to provide light, once we're inside the cave that is." Rina explained to her. Pippi smiled brightly and nodded. She then concentrated briefly to practice a bit, causing a small build-up of sparks around her cheeks. Her inabiltity to control her power showed through, though, as the sparks suddenly erupted into a full bolt of electricity and blasted a nearby rock.

"-Oops...-" Pippi smiled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "-Maybe I should work on that a bit...-"

"Umm...yeah...you do that..." Rina replied, rubbing the back of her head as well.

"We still have Jolteon anyway." Ashley reminded Rina. "Though he seemed a bit nervous after yesterday, I'm sure he'll be able to handle it just fine."

"We should have just brought flashlights..." Rina mumbled quietly to herself. Unfortunately for her, Ashley heard her.

"What kind of trainers would we be if we chose to use flashlights instead of relying on our pokemon!" Ashley scolded Rina. "Trainers on tv rely on their pokemon for everything, so I won't use a flashlight either!"

"She watches too much tv..." Rina thought, twitching nervously. The group approached the entrance to the Rock Tunnel, walking a few feet into the darkness within before Ashley drew Jolteon's pokeball from her belt and released Jolteon into the dark cave.

"Ok, Jolteon, we need some light! So...uhh..." Ashley scratched her head, trying to think how to word it. "Store a charge in your fur or something..."

"-I think I understand what you're asking.-" Jolteon nodded to Ashley and charged electricity in his fur as if he was about to attack. He held the charge, emitting a glow that lit up the cave for about a dozen or so feet away. The light startled several Zubat that were hanging around on the ceiling, causing several of them to swoop down and attack the two trainers.

"Pippi! Quick, use Thundershock!" Pippi jumped out in front of the Zubat swarming towards the group, five of them in total. Pippi fired a blast of electricity from her cheeks, striking two of the Zubat. The two Zubat she struck fell towards the ground but managed to catch themselves before landing. The group of Zubat quickly flew off, not wanting anymore trouble from Pippi.

"Good one, Rina!" Ashley said excitedly. "We'll probably run into more of those on the way, so we'll need to be ready incase they attack too..."

"Umm...Ashley...we're not safe yet..." Rina said nervously, pointing towards the ceiling. Ashley followed her gaze and saw what Rina was talking about. On the ceiling was a green Golbat with its pink wings spread out. Unlike its unevolved form, the bat-like pokemon Zubat, Golbat had eyes. And it looked pretty unhappy that it had a light shining in its face right now.

"That Golbat..." Ashley mumbled quietly in disbelief. A wide grin slowly spread across her lips. "I'm definitely catching that!"

"Well I think you'll get your chance, cause here it comes!" Rina cried out in fear as the green bat pokemon dislodged itself from the ceiling towards Jolteon.

"-Don't worry! I've got this one too!-" Pippi reassured Rina, charging up electricity in her cheeks to attack. Golbat heard this and took aim at Pippi as it dove down.

"-BAH! Try me, pipsqueak!-" Golbat fired a high-pitched soundburst from its large mouth. Pippi recoiled back as the soundwaves struck it and had a dazed expression as she became confused. Golbat quickly took aim at Jolteon and used the same attack again with a similar result, leaving Jolteon confused and causing him to lose focus on the electricity he had charged. The cave quickly darkened again.

"-Bah! You see? No match for me!-" Golbat called out in the dark and then turned around to fly away. It didn't get very far before Bulbasaur grabbed it, wrapping its vines around Golbat's body. Bulbasaur narrowly made the grab as he couldn't see Golbat in the dark, only hear him.

"-I'm not letting you get away that easily!-" Bulbasaur growled at it. "-Ashley only shows an interest in catching pokemon once in a blue moon, so I'm not letting this opportunity get away!-"

"-Bah! Say what you want, I'm outta here!-" Golbat bit down hard on Bulbasaur's vines, which were wrapped around his large, open mouth just as much as they were around his body. Bulbasaur cried out in surprise and let go, giving Golbat the chance to flee further into the cave.

"-Damn it...it got away...-" Bulbasaur grumbled, retracting his vines.

"Jolteon! Pippi! Snap out of it!" Ashley called out to the two pokemon. Though Ashley and Rina couldn't see them, Pippi and Jolteon were rolling around in the darkness. The two pokemon had quickly turned on each other in their confusion, biting and scratching at each other.

"I told you we should have used a flashlight!" Rina called out to Ashley before setting to the task of trying to pull Pippi away from Jolteon.


It took about a minute for the confusion inflicted on the two pokemon to wear off. Rina and Ashley retreated back to the pokecenter at that point to get Jolteon and Pichu checked out. Rina also made a point to get ahold of a pair of flashlights before they set off back into the cave.

"Ok, this time we'll do it MY way!" Rina said to Ashley, glaring at her. She turned the flashlight on, startling a pair of Zubat that had moved back to the cave entrance and sending them scurrying off further into the cave. "Both Jolteon AND Pippi will take care of the Zubat and that Golbat if we see it again. Otherwise they'll just keep confusing our pokemon.

"-I won't let THAT happen again...-" Jolteon growled defiantly.

"-Me neither, I hate Golbats now!-" Pippi added in agreement, sparks briefly dancing around her cheeks.

"Fine..." Ashley replied, folding her arms over her chest. "But real trainers don't use flashlights..."

"REAL trainers don't try to fit in with everyone else either!" Rina snapped back. "Now turn your flashlight on already..." Ashley grumbled to herself as she pushed the button on the side of the flashlight and turned it on. The light from her flashlight lit up a bit more of the cave for the two girls.

"-Next time we see that Golbat, I'm grabbing it first thing.-" Bulbasaur muttered to himself. "-Grab it by the wings this time so it can't bite me...-"

The two girls and their pokemon continued off further into the cave. While there was no sign of the Golbat they had run into before, or any other Golbats, there was no shortage of Zubat. Most fled when the light shone on them, but a few brave Zubat tried to attack Ashley and Rina because of the flashlights. These Zubats were quickly dispatched by Thundershock attacks from Pippi and Jolteon. While Jolteon could easily have defeated them with Thunderbolt, Rina just wanted to scare them off.

"Pippi! Jolteon! You two know the drill!" Ashley called out as another four Zubats dove down towards the girls. The two pokemon took point in front of their trainers and charged electricity, firing it in a short burst. Two of the Zubat dodged, with the three remaining bats getting hit hard. All five quickly scattered after enduring the attacks and flew off further into the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

"All these Zubat are getting a bit annoying now..." Ashley commented with a sigh.

"Yeah, they're not very tough..." Rina nodded and smiled lightly. "Well Pippi and Jolteon are getting a good workout anyway!"

"-Workout? You call this a workout?-" Jolteon asked rhetorically. "-I'm barely working up a sweat here...-"

"-Speak for yourself, some of us aren't evolved!-" Pippi shot back, growling at Jolteon. The constant barrage of Zubat were starting to annoy her.

"Well, enough talk. Lets keep going." Ashley interrupted the two pokemon before Jolteon could respond to Pippi. They nodded and started forward, but only took a few steps before they heard a pair of screams further ahead in the darkness. Ashley and Rina held their flashlights forward, trying to see what it was. Two trainers, a boy and a girl both wearing a green shirt and matching shorts that looked like some youth club uniform, ran out from the depths of the cave with a swarm of Zubat following behind them.

"HELP! We don't have any pokemon left!" The boy called out. The two trainers ran past Ashley and Rina, taking refuge behind them.

"Ok, Jolteon! Thunderbolt, aim in front of the Zubat!" Ashley commanded, quickly taking control over the situation.

"-With pleasure!-" Jolteon charged a large amount of electricity in his fur and fired it across the Zubat's path, sending a bolt of lightning towards the ceiling and striking a glancing blow on the two lead Zubat. Several others were struck by rocks falling from the ceiling where Jolteon's Thunderbolt hit. The swarm paused, reconsidering for a moment before heading back into the cave and giving up the chase.

"Another easy one..." Ashley sighed and turned to the two trainers. "You two ok? And what about your pokemon?"

"We're fine...thank you!" The girl replied, bowing respectfully to Ashley. "We were trying to get back to the pokecenter to get our pokemon healed when that crazed Zubat swarm came out of nowhere and attacked us..."

"Umm...that might have been our fault..." Rina admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "We've been driving them back with our electric pokemon..."

"What happened to your pokemon anyway?" Ashley asked them.

"We were on our way to Lavender Town when we ran into this mean lady with a Vaporeon..." The boy replied. "She challenged us both at the same time, but her pokemon was still too strong...she beat us easily! Then she said our pokemon weren't worth anything to her and she was after 'bigger prey'...whatever that means..."

"What an odd trainer..." Ashley commented, blinking in disbelief. "She almost sounds like..."

"Like a hunter..." Rina interrupted Ashley. Jolteon growled and his fur bristled at the notion. "If you two want to go to Lavender, you can come with us. We're heading there ourselves." Rina said to the two trainers.

"-What could a hunter possibly be after in this cave?-" Bulbasaur wondered aloud. "-There's nothing here except Zubat and...-" Bulbasaur's eyes widened. "-The Golbat!-"

"What was that Bulbasaur?" Rina asked him, not understanding what he was getting at.

"-You saw that Golbat! Thats not their normal color!-" Bulbasaur replied to Rina. "-That hunter is after that Golbat, I'm sure of it! What else would she be looking for in the Rock Tunnel?-"

"W-wait! You can understand it?" The male trainer asked in surprise.

"Yep! Since I was born." Rina replied with a light smile. "And he has a point. Ashley, that hunter is probably after the Golbat we ran into earlier..."

"What?!" Ashley growled and shook her fist. "No way! I won't let her, that Golbat is MINE!"

"She was going off towards the eastern part of the cave after we lost to her..." The female trainer explained.

"But Lavender Town is to the south...hmm..." Ashley folded her arms over her chest as she thought it over for a moment. "Ok, Rina. You take those two to the south exit. I'm going after that Golbat and the hunter. I have Jolteon and Bulbasaur with me, so if she's using a Vaporeon then she doesn't stand a chance!"

"Are you sure we should split up?" Rina asked Ashley in a concerned tone. "I don't think you should take a hunter so lightly..."

"She was tough, but that Jolteon looks tough too. I think you can take her!" The girl said to Ashley.

"-Well, thank you for noticing.-" Jolteon grinned at the praise. "-I'm with Ashley, I'm itching to take a shot at these guys.-"

"Don't worry Rina, we'll be fine. I'll meet you outside the Rock Tunnel later." Ashley turned and nodded to Bulbasaur and Jolteon. "Ok guys, lets go!" The two pokemon nodded back and followed Ashley as she ran off into the cave.

"I hope you're right Ashley..." Rina whispered quietly, feeling as though she might regret letting Ashley go off alone. She put on a determined expression as she turned to address the two trainers.

"Ok you two, lets go. Pippi and I will take you outside." The two trainers nodded and followed Rina as she set off into the cave as well. As they were walking, the boy caught up with Rina and walked along beside her.

"So...uh...you come here often?" The boy asked her, giving a sheepish grin. Before Rina could respond, the female trainer grabbed him roughly by the ear. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"What was that about?" Rina wondered, not realizing the boy was trying to chat her up.


"That Golbat either went really far into the cave or she caught it already..." Ashley commented after having been running for about 10 minutes. Heaving a sigh, she sat down near the wall of the cave. "I need to rest..."

"-Hey! We can't stop now, or we'll lose them for sure!-" Bulbasaur extended his vines, holding them above Ashley. "-Don't make me whip you!-"

"-You two don't get along very well, do you?-" Jolteon asked him. Bulbasaur shook his head, keeping his gaze locked on Ashley.

"Fine...I'm going..." Ashley muttered. She quickly got back on her feet and turned the flashlight down the cave. No Zubat in sight nearby. It had been fairly quiet, in fact. The swarm of Zubat they had encountered earlier seemingly disappeared.

"-Wait...-" Jolteon perked up his ears and moved in front of Bulbasaur and Ashley to stop them while he listened ahead. "-I hear something...I think there's a fight up ahead...-"

"-Then what the heck are we waiting for?-" Bulbasaur asked with a growl. "-Lets get a move on it!-" He charged past Jolteon, bolting off into the cave.

"HEY! Bulbasaur!" Ashley called out to him and chased after him with the flashlight.

"-I should be upset that they run off, but I suppose he has a point.-" Jolteon muttered to himself before chasing off after the two. The source of the sounds Jolteon heard weren't much further away. The light from Ashley's flashlight soon revealed a Vaporeon and a green Golbat, the one Ashley saw earlier, in the midst of battle. The Vaporeon had a hunter's slave collar around its neck.

"Vaporeon, attack with Shadow Ball." An older woman with short, blue hair was standing nearby, commanding Vaporeon. She had a long, brown trenchcoat on over a pair of black pants and boots. A visor with a red lens was wrapped around her head, providing her with infrared vision so she could easily see everything around her. She turned her head slightly to look at the new arrivals as Ashley and her pokemon arrived on the scene.

"-Bah! Too easy!-" Golbat fired a high-pitched sound pulse at Vaporeaon before it could launch the attack. When the sound reached Vaporeon's ears it paused for a brief second, but then continued on to launch the Shadow Ball at Golbat. The ball knocked Golbat back, but it managed to stay in the air.

"You! Stop right there!" Ashley called out to the hunter.

"Its getting a bit crowded in here..." The woman muttered, reaching for a metal ring at her side. "Time to end this." She threw the ring at Golbat, but Bulbasaur was ready for it. He quickly extended his vines and grabbed the slave collar out of the air before it could reach the bat pokemon.

"-Bah! What the heck?-" Golbat wondered aloud. "-Too crowded here indeed! I'm gone!-" Golbat flew off again, heading further east into the cave. The hunter watched as Golbat escaped and turned to Ashley, glaring angrily from under her visor.

"You're going to pay for that, girl." The hunter growled at Ashley. "It seems some trainers just don't know enough to stay away from one of the Grand Hunters."

"We know all about you!" Ashley shot back. "Jolteon, attack Vaporeon with Thunderbolt! Bulbasaur, follow it up with Razor Leaf!"

Neither pokemon hesitated in their attack. Jolteon charged up electricity and fired off a bolt of lightning at Vaporeon. The electricity arced through the air towards Vaporeon and struck the water pokemon without error. Vaporeon cried out in pain as the electricity flowed freely through its body, though it was still looking like it was in good shape even after taking the bolt.

Once Jolteon's Thunderbolt attack was out of the way, Bulbasaur followed up with a Razor Leaf. He sent out a barrage of sharp leaves from the base of his bulb, sending them slicing across Vaporeon's body. Again, Vaporeon endured the attack and looked only a little worse off for it.

"This girl seems to know quite a bit about us..." The woman thought. "Fortunately, Vaporeon is known for its durability. However, that Jolteon..." The woman hummed thoughtfully for a moment and reached for a smoke ball hanging at her side.

"Perhaps you will learn your lesson another time then." The woman said to Ashley. "The name is Aqua, you won't soon forget it." She threw the ball at the ground, causing it to burst and shroud herself and Vaporeon in a thick cloud of smoke. When the smoke finally dispersed, both of them were gone.

"Should have grabbed that smokeball while I had the chance..." Ashley grumbled, snapping her fingers.

"-Well we chased her off anyway.-" Bulbasaur said with a shrug. "-Now lets get after that Golbat already!-"

"We should get back on that Golbat's trail now, since thats out of the way." Ashley said, completely oblivious to the fact that Bulbasaur just suggested the same. "It couldn't have gotten far, lets go!"

"-Funny, I just said the same thing...-" Bulbasaur muttered. The three of them quickly took off in the direction Golbat went in.


"Finally! I thought I might never see the sun again..." The female trainer that Rina had been escorting out of the cave stretched her arms into the air as she left the cave. The sun was high in the sky as it neared noon.

"Ha! I wasn't worried at all!" The boy proudly boasted, standing just in the shadow of the cave next to Rina.

"Oh yeah? Who was the one crying when our pokemon were defeated?" The girl asked, her question quickly deflating the boy's ego.

"Umm...hey, you two think you'd be ok to go the rest of the way to Lavender on your own?" Rina asked them, glancing back into the cave.

"Actually I think we'd be better off if you...mph!" The boy was quickly silenced before he could finish as his friend placed her hand over his mouth.

"We'll be fine." The girl replied to Rina, shooting the boy a glare. "There shouldn't be any wild pokemon between here and Lavender anyway."

"I'm going back in to find Ashley then. I hope your pokemon will be ok!"

"Thanks for your help! Good luck!" The girl waved to Rina as she ran into the cave. Once Rina was out of earshot she turned to her male friend and glared at him.

"You and I need to talk, mister!"


"How are we ever going to find Ashley now?" Rina asked in dismay, waving her flashlight around to look down each of the two tunnels that branched off from where she was. There were two other tunnels, but one lead back to Lavender town and the other they had already come through.

"I know Ashley was heading east but she could have went anywhere from there." Rina sighed. "Its hopeless now...I just hope she's ok..."

"-But Rina, I can sense which tunnel leads to her Jolteon!-" Rina blinked in disbelief and looked at Pippi curiously. "-Electric pokemon can sense electricity in the air, and Jolteon is the strongest source in this cave. So he has to be down this tunnel!-" Pippi pointed to the tunnel to the left of Rina.

"I hope you're right, Pippi..." Pippi nodded and ran off down the narrow corridor, with Rina running after her. The corridor eventually opened up into another large cavern. Rina and Pippi stopped for a moment once they were in the cavern and Rina shone her flashlight around. A metal glint near the middle of the cave caught Rina's attention, so they ran over to investigate.

"Its...a slave collar!" Rina said when she finally got a good look at it. "Ashley must have beaten that hunter then...but where did she go from here?"

"-Rina! Follow me!-" Pippi ran off again, sensing a source of electricity. Rina followed behind her.


"We've got it now! There's nowhere for it to run!" Ashley and her pokemon, meanwhile, had finally cornered Golbat in a deadend cave.

"-Bah! You'll never catch me!-" Golbat wasn't about to give up, even after getting itself trapped. It turned to Bulbasaur and fired a high-pitched soundburst at it. As the sound reached Bulbasaur's ears a dazed look overcame him and he looked a bit wobbly on his feet.

"Jolteon, quick! Use Thunderbolt!" Electricity sparked along Jolteon's body as he gathered it in his fur. The electricity then shot off towards Golbat, striking it and causing it to fall to the ground as electricity coursed through its body. It didn't stay down for long though and was soon flapping its wings quite rapidly, lifting itself up off the ground.

"Bulbasaur, return!" While Jolteon was on the attack, Ashley had retrieved Bulbasaur's pokeball from her belt. She recalled the grass pokemon before he could do any harm to either himself or Jolteon in his confused state.

"-Bah! I can just do it again!-" True to his word, Golbat fired off another high-pitched sound burst. The sound reached Jolteon's sensitive ears, inflicting confusion on it just like what happened to Bulbasaur. Jolteon seemed fine for a moment, but then started spinning in a circle as if trying to chase his tail.

"Jolteon, return!" Ashley quickly drew Jolteon's pokeball, recalling it as well now that confusion had set in. However, she still had Bulbasaur's pokeball in hand. Once Jolteon was recalled into its ball she placed the ball back on her belt and released Bulbasaur again. Bulbasaur shook his head as if just recovering from the confusion and seemed to be fine after having been in his pokeball.

"Ok, Bulbasaur! Lets teach this guy a lesson! Sleep Powder!" Bulbasaur wasted no time in attacking Golbat. Before the bat pokemon had another chance to use Supersonic, Bulbasaur fired a burst of powder from the bulb on his back. The powder filled the air around Golbat before sprinkling to the ground. Golbat soon fell to the ground as well, sleep set in rather quickly once the powder made contact with Golbat.

"-Too easy.-" Bulbasaur commented, grinning to himself.

"I kinda feel bad for catching it like this, since it was already weakened from its battle with that hunter..." Ashley commented to herself as she took an empty pokeball from her travel bag.

"But thats not going to stop me! I've already decided that Golbat is mine and this seals the deal!" Ashley lobbed the pokeball at the grounded and sleeping Golbat. The pokeball opened up on contact and pulled the Golbat inside, then fell to the ground and started rolling. After a few tense moments, the pokeball locked shut with Golbat sealed inside.

"And that takes care of that!" Ashley said with a grin. The pokeball containing Ashley's newly caught pokemon glowed white and then vanished, sending Golbat off to storage. "Alright! We caught Golbat!" Ashley cheered and pumped her fist into the air.

"-And you did even less than usual.-" Bulbasaur commented with a shrug. "-At least its another pokemon caught. Now we need to get out of here though...-"

"Ashley!" More light illuminated the area of the cave Ashley was in as Rina finally caught up with them. Rina looked around the cave and was confused when she saw only Ashley and Bulbasaur.

"Rina? How'd you find us so quickly? And where are the other two?" Ashley asked her, blinking in disbelief at Rina's sudden arrival.

"They're outside...the exit actually isn't far from here..." Rina replied, turning her attention to Ashley. "Pippi helped me find you...but where's the hunter? Or the Golbat for that matter?"

"The hunter escaped..." Ashley replied regretfully. "She did that smoke ball thing. I just caught the Golbat though." Ashley paused for a moment. "Why'd you come back in anyway?"

"I was worried you might have run into trouble...guess I wasn't needed afterall though..." Rina rubbed her head in embarassment.

"I told you I could handle myself." Ashley replied, grinning widely. "But since you're here, you can show me the way out."

"Oh! Right!" Rina nodded to Ashley and smiled. "Ok, follow me! I think I remember the way..." Rina started off out of the cave, her flashlight lighting the way ahead. Ashley and Bulbasaur followed along behind her, and Pippi waited for Bulbasaur to walk next to him. Their business in the Rock Tunnel finished, the group continued on towards Lavender Town.


Author's Notes: Bit of a short chapter, served mostly to introduce Aqua and for Ashley to catch Golbat. In earlier drafts I toyed with the idea of Ashley getting a Zubat in Mount Moon or Ashley and Rina eavesdropping on a conversation between Aqua and Team Rocket in the Rock Tunnel. This is what came out in the final draft, though. Also ended up jumping around a bit towards the end, though maybe a bit more than planned due to the lingering focus on the two unnamed trainers before Rina ran off. I had the 'camper' sprite in mind for those two, if that wasn't apparent.

Have quite a bit planned for next week's chapter, so it should be something to look forward to for sure!