Chapter 2

"Damn, that mankey of yours is good," ten year old Cael said. The young boy recalled a defeated caterpie that was lying in front of him. The boy adjusted his wide brim hat and walked over to Max, who was standing there with a white monkey-like pokémon, a mankey. The mankey jumped on to Max's shoulders and beat his chest triumphantly.

"I only caught him this morning to be completely honest," Max said, patting the mankey. "Have a rest now Billy." Max recalled the mankey and turned to Cael, taking the money the boy had pulled out of his pocket. He shoved it into his own pocket, and smiled. Cael gave a wave and ran off back towards Viridian city, most likely to heal his pokémon. Max turned and started walking in the opposite direction, heading towards Pewter city.

Max had left fairly early that morning, after saying bye to his mother. Professor Oak had collected travelling supplies for him, and even threw in a thousand pokédollars to help him with purchasing more items when needed. After he left, he went straight through Viridian city, not stopping for anything. When he had reached the outskirts of Viridian, he found a mankey eating an apple, where afterwards, Max battled and caught the pig monkey pokémon. Ever since then, he had been training his team up in Viridian forest, preparing for the future battles that would eventually come his way.

As Max made his way through Viridian forest, more trainers challenged him to a battle. Max accepted all with eagerness, being keen to train his pokémon up. Max defeated most of them with ease, yet some required a bit of strategy. It was during this time, that Steven managed to evolve. The weedle's evolution surprised Max when it happened, as he was holding the bug type in his arms. Weedle's evolved form, kakuna, looked like a yellow cocoon. However, it had two pincers that could move slight amounts. Other than the pincers, Steven was completely immobile. Max was delighted at the sight of an evolution.

"Good job Steven," Max said with a smile. "Hopefully it's not long until you evolve again." Steven seemed to smile with his eyes, but no sound came from the cocoon. Max ended up recalling the kakuna, and continued his way towards the exit of Viridian forest.

As the sun finally started to lower in the sky, Max had finally reached Pewter. The city was much different to that of Viridian or Pallet. There weren't many trees decorating the streets, nor were there any trees on the outskirts of the city. The city was, essentially, all rocks. Each house had cobblestone walls, and pathways were made out of differently shaped and coloured rocks. There were several larger buildings, but none that went higher than three stories. The pokémon centre was the only building that did not seem to be made of rocks, retaining its normal metal design that had been present in Viridian city. Max headed for the red roofed building, looking for somewhere to stay the night.

The pokémon centre was rather quiet, only two other people occupying the building, not including the staff. The other trainers were casually hanging around, reading magazines of the sort. Max made his way to the front counter, and waited for the nurse to come to him. The pink haired notice Max waiting and walked over to him, smiling the entire time.

"Hello, she said with a bubbly voice. "Welcome to the Pewter City Pokémon Centre! Would you like us to heal your pokémon?"

"Yes, please," Max said, handing over his four pokéballs. "Also, I was wondering if there was any place where I can stay for the night."

"Of course," the nurse said with a smile, "There's a trainer motel just down the road! If you have either an official card saying you're a trainer, or a gym badge, you get one night sleep, absolutely free of charge! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is thanks!"

"No worries! If you'd like to take a seat, we'll notify you when your pokémon are fully healed!"

Max nodded and walked off from the counter, taking a seat near an old man who was reading the newspaper. Max grabbed a magazine and flicked through it, eventually finding a crossword puzzle. He scrolled through the questions casually, mentally answering each one in his head. As he was answering the question to six down, the old man next to him started speaking.

"Sorry, what was that?" Max said, looking up at him, having been distracted by the crossword and unsure of what the man said.

"I asked if you were heading for Mt Moon?" the man said, with a kind tone.

"I was planning on doing so tomorrow," Max said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, there have been rumours of a crime syndicate inhabiting the mountain. No one is completely sure of their purpose, but apparently, they're known as 'Team Rocket' and have been threatening several trainers, even going as far as killing pokémon. But they're all just mere rumours."

"Damn… I really hope I can still get through then… I was hoping to get Cerulean by the end of the week if possible."

"Well, considering its Tuesday, even with a delay, you should still make it there by Saturday. While you may be traversing the inside of a mountain, there's a pretty clear path that has been lightened up for trainers making their way through. So you shouldn't get lost anyway."

"Thanks," Max said happily. "Well, hopefully I don't run into this rocket group… They sound too serious for my liking."

"Well I think the police will be there tomorrow or the day after to investigate, so hopefully in the worst case scenario, the police can deal with them beforehand."

"Yeah I hope so," said Max. He looked up to see that his name had appeared on a large TV screen followed by an upbeat dinging noise. "Looks like my pokémon are ready. Thanks for the information mister!"

The old man smiled and gave a nod as Max left the table. He walked up and picked up the four pokéballs that contained his pokémon. He reattached them to his belt, thanked the nurse, and left the building.

As he left, he noticed that the sun had gotten even lower, and the sky was starting to change colour. Max begun walking down the street, looking for the motel that the nurse had mentioned. He soon found the building, which looked very cosy, and walked inside. He made his way to the front desk, and showed the receptionist his trainer card. He was accepted and he was shown to his room.

"We hope you enjoy your stay!" the receptionist said as she left Max in the room by himself. The room itself had two beds on each side of the room, a TV and desk in the front corner, and a wardrobe and bathroom alongside the wall. Max sighed and dumped his backpack onto the other bed he wasn't using. He turned to the clock on the wall and checked out the time.

"Damn… 5:30… I wonder if the pokémon gym would still be open…" Max decided to check it out. Grabbing his backpack once more, he headed out and left the motel. Unsure of which direction to go, he decided to head further into the city. The rest of the city continued to follow the stone design pattern. All the buildings seemed to have brown tiled rooves however one seemed to have a brown tin roof instead. On the roof was a large white pokéball sign, and as Max got closer, he saw a sign next to the building that had 'Pewter Gym' written over it. Max smiled at the fact that he finally found the gym. When he got there, he pushed open the surprisingly unlocked doors, and walked in.

When Max walked inside, he was taken by surprise by how large the inside was. There was a large rectangular arena taking up most of the building. The arena also had large boulders jutting up all over the place. Towards the other end of the arena, was a giant throne-like seat that was made out of rocks. Someone appeared to be sitting on the seat, resting his head on his arm. Max questioned if the man was even awake.

"Hello?" Max shouted out, his voice echoing across the arena. The man on the throne shot awake and looked around. He noticed Max standing at the other end of the arena and signed. He stood up and rubbed his sleep covered face, staring at Max with annoyance.

"Ugh… Welcome to Pewter Gym," the man said, walking down from the throne. He stood at the other end of the arena. He had short brown hair, but it was spiked up in a neat fashion. He wore a brown long-sleeved shirt, with a green sleeveless shirt over the top. He had jeans and sneakers on that finished his attire.

"My name is Max Harding and I'm here for a gym battle," Max said confidently. The man sighed, clearly not that interested.

"My name is Brock and I'm the leader of the Pewter city gym. How many badges have you got?"

"None so far," Max said. "You're my first gym battle."

Brock let out a groan, followed by a sigh. He walked up to an outlined box that was on his side of the arena. He grabbed a pokéball from his side and threw it into the arena. It burst open to reveal what looked like a rock with two arms.

"Come on then," Brock said. "I don't want to be fighting all night."

"Right then," Max said, unsure of what to think of the lazy gym leader. Instead he grabbed a pokéball and threw it out onto the field. The pokéball burst open, and Billy jumped out, the mankey jumping around as he did. "Billy, kick it off with a karate chop!"

The hyperactive mankey charged at the rock type, his hand glowing white as he brought it down towards his opponent.

"Defence curl Geodude," Brock said flatly. The geodude curled up, its arms blocking Billy's attack completely. "Come on, surely your mankey is stronger than that. It is a fighting type…"

"Yeah, I know," Max grumbled. "Billy, use a low kick attack!" Billy swirled around as his foot slammed into the geodude's face. The rock type was sent flying backwards, slamming into one of the jagged rocks.

"Rock throw," Brock said with a sigh, his hands in his pocket. "Come on kid, make this a challenge already. I haven't had a single trainer beat my geodude in a week."

"Gary musn't have beaten Brock yet," Max said to himself. "Never mind, Billy, karate chop the incoming rock!" Billy did so and the rock broke apart into many tiny pieces. However, from behind the rock, Billy was punched by a right hook from the geodude, who must have snuck up when Billy was focusing on the attack. Billy had fallen to the ground when Geodude made his way over and started punching the fighting type.

"Hey!" Max shouted. "No fair! Let my mankey fight back!"

"This is a gym battle kid," Brock said with a sigh. "These battles are serious shit… Even if you have only just begun we're not going to take any trainer lightly."

"Fine then. Billy! Use your tail to your advantage!" Billy understood what Max meant, and looped his tail around one of the geodude's arms. Once his tail was tightened around it, he proceeded to throw the geodude away, gaining some space between them. It was at this moment that Max noticed the blood dripping down from Billy's nose. "Billy, are you alright?"

"Man, mankey," Billy said, turning back towards his trainer while giving a slight smile. The mankey proceeded to jump on the spot as the geodude got back up. The geodude seemed to be letting a low grumble out as it rested on the ground, waiting for Brock's command.

"Alright, no more screwing around," Brock said passively. "Use your rock tomb now! Don't let it live!"

The geodude seemed to grin at this and grabbed a large rock out of the ground. The rock's size was almost twice that of the geodude, and yet, the rock type then managed to throw it at mankey, slamming into the fighting type pokémon. The geodude then started to roll towards the fallen mankey, the rock type ready to finish Billy off.

"Billy, throw the rocks back at him!" Max shouted the command, and hoped for his plan to work. If only Billy could distract the rock type. The rocks that Billy threw seemed to be slowing the geodude down, who had now stopped rolling. He made his way towards mankey, now using the natural magnetic pole located in his body to start levitating. Billy managed to grab another large rock and lobbed it at the rock type. Geodude flinched from the attack and Max noticed. "Now Billy! Karate chop, full strength!"

Billy acted quickly. He pushed himself up with his legs at such a great force that he propelled through the air, clearing the short distance between him and the rock type. Billy's right hand began to glow a bright white colour. Billy's hand slammed down on top of the geodude's head, and the rock type's eyes widened. It slammed into the ground hard with the top of the geodude's head cracking. The rock type rolled onto it back, unconscious. Brock's hands were no longer in his pants as his geodude had collapsed. Brock seemed to give a slight chuckle as he brought out the rock type's pokéball. He recalled his pokémon and smiled.

"Well kid," Brock said. "You managed to beat my geodude which no one has managed to do for a week. I guess that takes skill. But that ends here. I'm not going easy at all with this next pokémon. Onix! I need your assistance!"

Max watched as Brock threw the pokéball into the middle of the field. The white light emerged from the pokéball, creating a ginormous, snake-like figure. The white light vanished and a large snake made of rocks appeared on the field. It was about ten times higher than Max, and looked just as vicious. The pokémon, which was an onix from what Brock said, had been in many battles before. The rocks that made up its body were chipped, missing pieces here and there, and the horn on his head was jagged, instead of the smooth edge that a normal onix would have. Max shifted on the spot, nervous about going up against something so big.

"So then kid," Brock said smiling. "You ready for round two?"

"Uh, sure," Max said, with a little less confidence in his voice. "Billy, have a rest now. I don't want anything bad happening to you. Harrison, let's go!" As Max switched pokémon, recalling Billy and releasing Harrison, he looked over at Brock who no longer had any visible feature of boredom. The gym leader seemed to be having fun now. For some reason, this made Max more eager to win.

"Well then," Brock said. "Let me show you how out of your league you really are. Onix, go underground now!" The large pokémon moved, and slammed head first into the ground. However, instead of just bouncing back off of it, the rock type disappeared under ground. Harrison stood out in the middle of the field, unknowing what to do. Max stood there, feeling the same way.

"Harrison, keep an eye out alright!"

"It won't do you any good kid!" Brock shouted from across the field. "Onix, head butt that grass type!" As soon as the command was given, the onix erupted from the ground directly below Harrison. His emergence from the ground propelled Harrison high into the air. The little bulbasaur was worried as he stared back down to the ground.

"And slam it!" Brock's sudden command caught both the grass type and Max off guard. In an insanely swift motion, the onix's tail came swinging around and slam into Harrison, sending him flying into the ground, a loud boom echoing around the arena as Harrison hit the ground. A small crater had formed around the grass type, and Harrison slowly tried to get up.

"Harrison! Come on buddy, we gotta fight back! Get a leech seed on it!" Harrison nodded at his trainer's command and fired a seed from the bulb on his back. The seed went flying towards the large pokémon. The seed struck the onix in between one of the joints of the pokémon's body. Roots emerged from the seed and wrapped around two of the stones that made up the body. A red glow surrounded the onix as energy was transferred back to Harrison. However, the rock type pokémon did not seem to feel pain from the seed.

"Heh, it's going to take more than seed kid," Brock said. "Don't start to bore me now!"

"Fine! You want some fight, then you're gonna get some! Harrison, grab him by the horn with your vine whip!" Harrison nodded and smiled, as he was feeling energized from the effect of the leech seed. From his bulb, two long vines shot out, grabbing the onix's horn. "Now, pull him and throw his head into the ground!"

"You've got to be joking," Brock said with a smirk. "Onix, throw him around a bit."

"Onix," the pokémon cried, seeming to be smiling at the same time. The onix spun his head around and around, Harrison swinging with the onix too. Then, Onix threw Harrison into the ground, slamming him several times before the grass type was forced to let go. As Harrison slowly got up, more energy was transferred from Onix to Harrison.

"Damn it," Max muttered. "Alright, Harrison, you need to get another seed on to him!"

"Bulb, bulbasaur!"

"Harrison, use another vine whip, but grab Onix from underneath his head this time." Harrison did as Max commanded, shooting out another two new vines. This time, the vines wrapped around the onix's body several times. "Now pull yourself towards him!"

"Onix, get him off you!"

As Harrison flew towards Onix, the onix's tail came swinging around, ready to hit the grass type. However, by his own initiative, Harrison pointed his legs towards the tail, and when the body parts collided, Harrison pushed himself off, giving himself even more momentum. Harrison ended up slamming into Onix's side hard, causing the rock type pokémon to stumble. Harrison stood on the onix's body and smiled as he fired another leech seed on to the rock type's body. The seed lodged itself in another joint, and this time, Onix winced as the seeds drained his energy.

"Onix, slam him with your tail again!"

"Harrison, block his tail with your vine whip!"

Onix's tail came plummeting towards the grass type, but Harrison's vines crossed over to make a shield of sorts. The tail struck the vines, and the onix tried to force his tail down, but Harrison was fighting back, trying to push the tail back off of him. The two pokémon were somehow equal, but it was at that moment, that the seeds kicked in again, draining more of Onix's energy. The rock types pressure weakened just enough that Harrison got the advantage. He pushed the tail away, and jumped on to the ground. Harrison then used his vines to continuously whip at the onix. The onix began to growl in pain, the grass type attack starting to leave their mark on the giant. Onix tried to get back up, but when he did, Harrison slammed the top of the pokémon's head with one final slam. The vine whip sent Onix's head slamming into the ground. The rock type pokémon seemed to squirm for a bit, before falling unconscious. Harrison started to shout in happiness, and ran back towards Max.

"Great job Harrison!" Max said happily, hugging the grass type pokémon. "You did it!"

"Bulbasaur!"

"Good job kid," Brock said. He had made his way across the field and recalled his onix by the time Max looked up at him. "I haven't been beaten in quite some time. You definitely made me enjoy being a gym leader again. So, as proof of your victory at my gym, take this."

Brock handed a stone-shape object over to Max, who took it and chuckled at it. He pulled out a case from his pocket, and pressed the gym badge into it, the foam on the inside sealing the badge inside it. He pocketed the case and shook the hand that Brock was holding out.

"Make sure you come back for a rematch sometime," Brock said with a smile. "We'll make it a friendly one too, so no blood. Make sure that mankey of yours gets his nose checked out."

"Will do," Max said with a smile. "Also, have you been challenged by a boy, two years younger than me, brown spiky hair, and most likely wearing a purple jumper?"

"No, that doesn't sound familiar at all," Brock said after thinking for a moment. "He may have skipped Pewter city and headed straight for Vermilion through Diglett Tunnel. Many trainers have been doing that lately."

"Hmm, thanks," Max said with a sense of disappointment. He had been hoping to be just behind him, but he was probably long gone. After receiving the information, Brock and Max went their separate ways, Brock heading to the back of his gym, and Max for the pokémon centre. The entire walk back had Max smiling, happy at his first win.

"Hello?"

"Ah, yes, is this Brock of Pewter?"

"Yes it is, now who's this?"

"My name is Leonardo. I have an associate that needs to talk to you. He has a business proposition for you."

"And that would be?"

"Power. Power from an ancient force that I know you are eager to recover. I believe Project: Dome is the name of that side project of yours."

"How do you-"

"It matters not how I know. But in return for helping you complete Project: Dome, I ask for one little favour."

"And what's that?"

"Keep the police out of Mt Moon."

Well I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter :) Feel free to leave a review. Until next time :)

Catches:

Billy, Mankey, lvl 3, Route 22