Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies. The characters in this work are all loosely based on those created by Pokemon and its companies, and this story will never by no means be used to make monetary profit or gain.

CHAPTER FOUR

Frickin' Zubat:

"Good fish, boy, good fish, nice fish! You'll thank me in there boy, come on now, only thousand credits!"

I sighed and turned my back. He kept shouting behind me. "Tough customer, I like that, I like that! Five hundred for you boy, only five hundred!"

This was the last piece of civilization I would encounter before entering the tunnels. I had hitchhiked my way up, near to the beginning of the tunnel road where a sort of makeshift pokecenter was established by frequenters. It was sort of like a small, open air bazaar. Hiking enthusiasts traded equipment, and small stall owners tried selling to tired tourists, like the magikarp salesman who kept going on how nutritious and easy to prepare these fish were.

I checked my gear one last time: Silcoon silk weaved ropes, fully charged pokedex, oiled torches and flint to light them, packed berries and bottles of water... All seemed to be satisfactory. What I treasured the most was a pair of hiking shoes. It costed me a small fortune, but it was definitely worth it. My old pair was too worn out after about twenty days of journeying.

My mankey was currently carrying all my equipment in a duffel bag up in his arms. He seemed to be grunting a lot - my guess, protesting this demeaning task - but Pikachu kept a close eye on him, his cheeks sparkling every time the mankey seemed about to ditch me and run away. I ignored his complaints. The mankey was stronger than me, and I needed to keep my strength.

With only a quarter of my savings left, I wanted to buy a nosepass. These pokemon were extremely useful underground, their large noses pointed north instinctively when relaxed, making them excellent natural compasses. It'll be easy to find a seller here, I thought, just as I heard a hiker boasting about his nosepass saving his life when once lost in the woods.

"It pains me to part with her," he explained to those listening. "But I'm too old for travelling anymore, and she's a born voyager, this one! It would hurt me to keep her locked in our home and- you! Boy! Want a nosepass?" he addressed, seeing me interested.

I nodded. He grinned with an open mouth. "Well you're in luck boy! Old Poka and me here have history, but I'm willing to part with her for the reasonable price of-"

I held my hand high and stopped him. I pointed at the pokeball hanging from his belt. He seemed a bit abashed as he freed the ball from its hold. "Ah, I see, smart trainer! Wanting to check the merchandise, right?" he said. "Well come on out Poka and meet this dashing gentleman!"

The red light materialized, and I was greeted by the oldest, most worn out pokemon I had ever seen. Poka was entirely chalk white with age and parts of her rocky hide were chipped largely. She moved slowly as she raised her body to look at me with blind eyes, then just fell on her back. She rolled on her sides struggling to get up until I reached down and pulled her up. She felt cold and hard.

"Ha ha, such a joker Poka!" The hiker nervously laughed. "As I was saying, do we have a deal for, umm, let's say-" He was interrupted once again as I released my butterfree. I wasn't done with my investigation. Truth be told, I didn't care how Poka looked, only if her magnetic brain still worked. With a silent command, my butterfree began fluttering above and dusting sleep powders down his wings on Poka. This attracted a small crowd of onlookers.

The hiker was red with anger. "What the hell are you doing brat-" He stopped short when Poka suddenly sat down on her bottom end and whirled around herself until she stopped, with her gigantic nose pointing, I checked the map function on my dex, north. She was snoring lightly.

"Huh" was the only noise her seller made. I faced him and took out of my wallet the maximum amount I could afford. He counted the credits and shook his head.

"No way. No way kid. I am not going to sell her this cheap. In fact, I don't think I'm going to even sell to you. What are you a mute, attacking out of the blue and..." He lost words as Pikachu jumped in front of me, his fur crackling threateningly. The hiker's face hardened, and his hand went to his belt to another ball.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Doug," one of the onlookers cried. "I think I know this kid. You're Red, aren't cha?" he asked me directly. I didn't answer.

"See Doug, this kid just took down Brock. In battle. With that free and chu of his. Defeated Diamondback."

A gasp could be heard among the crowd and Doug went white.

"So, if I were you, I'd take this guy's money and be lucky I got out so easily with insulting him and all."

I locked my eyes directly on Doug. He stammered but didn't give way.

"I don't care if he's fucking Champion Lance," he bravely said. "There are laws for this kind of things, trainers can't just bully and, and, and I'm not selling Poka for that price, and that's it!" With his rising temper, his face regained its color.

"Tell you what, Red, was it?" another stall owner came near. "Doug's an asshole but he's kinda right, that much right there is too cheap for such a useful mon round here, even if it's as washed out as this one is." He pointed Poka. "But being as washed out as it is, Dougy here is probably the cheapest seller right now. And I'm guessing you would have one sooner than later."

I nodded without diverting my eyes from Doug. Pikachu still stood menacingly in front of me. The elderly stall owner cleared his throat and continued. "So, here's my offer: You trade me that butterfree of yours and I'll buy you old Poka - you can keep your money."

Surprised, I turned towards him. He gave me a toothless smile. "I promise I'll treat him well - a gift for my grandson. He's an aspiring bug catcher and, well, a bug mon that helped defeating Brock, it would make his day."

"Don't be stupid kid!" someone else called. "That free is worth much more if it took Diamondback down! I'll give you-"

"No, wait, hear me-"

And suddenly everyone was giving me offers for my butterfree.

As the mayhem grew around me, I silently considered my options. I never planned on keeping the butterfree on my roster long, he was too weak for the upcoming league matches. Besides, with the small life span of his species, I didn't think he could even make it to the Championship. But we had history. He had helped me topple Diamondback over, and I didn't want to sell him off just because his usefulness was over, like I did with my zigzagoon and venonat. I had planned on setting him free near Cerulean Cape once I reached Cerulean, imagining he would like it there. But I really was out of options, without a nosepass it would be impossible to find my way in the tunnels.

I glanced in the eyes of the first man who gave an offer and made my decision. Pikachu let a bolt loose in the air and everyone quieted.

I called butterfree to his ball and gave it to the old man. He looked surprised when he asked, "You sure? There are a lot of good offers I can't match and-"

"Better in the hands of your grandson than these leeches." I surprisingly realized I just started a conversation with a person for the first time since I left Pallet - hadn't even spoken aloud with Brock. "May he help your grandson well on his journey."

The man gave his toothless smile and nodded. Then he turned to Doug. "Alright now Douglas give me your price - and don't fucking try to skim me, I've been working these mountains long before you were born."

After a small duration of haggling, I was on my way, hiking up. My mankey trailed behind me carrying my bag, with Pikachu near keeping close watch. Poka was in her pokeball clipped to my belt. My heart felt light. I was happy to be moving again and glad the way things were handled with butterfree. I carried hope that he would be happy with his new owner.

I climbed the final hill and in front of me stood Mt. Moon in all its glory; the lush green at its base giving way to first rocky grey, then snow white as I tried looking for a peak that was lost among clouds.

The ancient Pewterians used to believe that this mountain was a god, and how could they not? It was unconquerable and terrifying, its forests and caves sheltered the very beasts that preyed on humans, and the roars echoing from its valleys scared the people to the bone. Yet it was also a benevolent god, as much as it took, it also gave, with the river that sourced from its heights, feeding their crops, and the valuable stones it birthed, of which they built their homes and weapons, and traded with. From its peak rose the greatest sources of light to those ancient, the sun and moon, which was believed to be the same entity with two different aspects. That belief led to the great mountain's original name, simply translated as "home of the sun and moon", and to today its simplified version as "Mt. Moon".

Eventually I broke my gaze. I gritted my teeth and powered through the last remaining distance to the tunnel's entrance at the base of the mountain.

Today, Mt. Moon did not celebrate the glory it used to have. After the Pewterians grew in numbers and began training pokemon, places that used to be too dangerous to travel before, weren't as much anymore. It took courage, time, and necessity, but the people began moving against their god in search of more resources. While rangers and trainers held the monsters back, years and years of mining eventually hallowed out the great mountain, so much that a dwindling tunnel road that reached all the way from Pewter to Cerulean came to existence. For a brief period in history this road was used for commerce between Cerulean and Pewter, but after the river road was established, traders began preferring the water to ship goods rather than drag them all the way through the dark, underground tunnel.

And so Mt. Moon lost its importance, especially once its evolutionary stone mines were completely depleted. Less and less people began working this particular mountain, and finally the tunnel road was shut down, the frequent cave-ins and wild making it too dangerous for commoners. Furthermore, the once simple tunnel was nowadays more like a maze, with onix, diglett, and dugtrio randomly continuing the tunneling job that man had abandoned.

I finally reached the tunnel entrance. A ranger guarded the cave, his hitmonlee stood next to him, comically leaning on one side of its springy legs and then the other. As I approached, the ranger's hands went to his belt touching two more hidden pokeballs, but otherwise he remained the same.

"Evenin," he greeted me. "What brings ya out here? Afraid this place is closed off to travelers."

I took out my trainer's card and gave it to him. He took out his dex and checked my credentials.

"Trainer Red, one badge, won from Brock by combat - wow how'd ya defeat Brock?" he muttered to himself. "Still I'm gonna have to ask ya to state ya business here."

My eyebrows rose. I knew that the road was closed off, but a trainer's license allowed access to places where others could not enter. Furthermore, I already had one badge clearance, and despite its dangers, Mt. Moon was no Safari or Mt. Silver - places of omega level risk where one needed multiple amount of badges to enter. I decided to play nice with this trainer, if he was going to be pushy, I couldn't afford pissing him off and him denying me entrance.

Feeling the hitmonlee eyeing me sideways, I spoke up, "Just training. Heard some mean mons were there. Wanted to train a zubat for Celadon gym."

He snorted. "Well if that's all ya're lookin for ya'll be out in a second. Millions of em bloodsuckers in there." He wrinkled his nose. "Go through kid, but if ya don't come out till it darkens, gonna have to report ya."

"Why?" I couldn't help myself. "It's not illegal to explore, is it?"

"Just get out before dark," he said shortly, ending the conversation. I shrugged my soldiers and continued in.

The air was cool and breathable, but I knew that wouldn't last long. I called the mankey back to its ball and took my bag myself - couldn't afford at this point him running off with my stuff. Pikachu was next to me in the silence as we walked further and further. The light began to go dimmer and soon it was too dark to see.

"What do you say?" I asked Pikachu as I took out a torch. "Is it safe to light it?"

Pikachu sniffed the air, then gave a small cry I thought of as yes.

I lit the torch and we continued deeper. The air was getting still and stuffier now. I was sweating like crazy despite the chill. Soon we reached our first split. On one side the road seemed to be going deeper down, while on the other it took a slight slope upwards. I had no idea which was right, so I took out Poka.

Poka was still asleep, which was actually good for me. She whirled around herself until her nose settled in a fixed direction. Judging that way to be north and knowing that I had to head east, I took the path leading downwards which seemed to be closer to my destination. Before leaving, I called Poka back and marked this point with a marker.

The road was getting more devilish now. Thrice more we encountered splits, and the tunnel once separated into three, and then four different routes. One time I even had to backtrack my steps because the road I had picked led to a dead end. Tired of constantly releasing and recalling her at every stop, I released Poka and woke her up. She now waddled behind and followed Pikachu and me.

Finally, we reached a large enough cavern and I decided to make camp. I called Poka back and marked the last place she showed as north in case she... Well, I didn't want to say died, but she was old, and she did exercise a lot today. Then again, rock pokemon measured age vastly different compared to us humans.

I checked the time and location on my pokedex. These being uncharted territories it didn't give me an exact position but it was enough to make an estimation for the rest of our journey. I then shut my dex wanting to save battery. After setting my sleeping bag, I laid in it and killed the torch light, I needed to preserve each and every one of my resources. In the dark, Pikachu let his fur charge with electricity, giving a slight glow enough for me to find my berry case. Still lying down, I opened it and began feeding Pikachu. As I fed him, I began my nightly ramblings with him that sort of became a tradition between us.

"We did good today. Lost our track for a moment but found it back quick," I muttered as I scratched his ears. "Right now outside it's midnight - can you believe it's still the same day we saw an Elite Four member in the morning? Talk about luck. You don't get to see one of them just every day you know. Wonder if she handled whatever crisis she came to handle. Probably not though. I read that the last time this happened there were multiple murders, and the search for killers took weeks, yet the killers still escaped. Crazy, right?"

Pikachu gave a quiet burp.

"As I was saying," I continued, ignoring his rude interruption. "We probably made the right decision coming here. The ferry makes multiple stops and takes a week to reach Cerulean. Because of the league operation, the docks in Pewter will probably stay closed till at least next week. Adding them together it would have taken two weeks. At best. This way however, if Poka here is leading us right, we should see light again in about nine days. Plus the added benefit of exercise and battling zubat. Fun."

Pikachu gave a groan. My lips curled, today he had zapped endless curious zubat and one golbat that were attracted to the heat of our bodies. I was glad that was all we had encountered though. I wasn't sure we could survive a ground type like a rhyhorn or graveler.

"Think that ranger is pissed we didn't come out yet? Hah. He should be. 'Get out before dark or I'll report', what's he going to report? We aren't doing anything illegal. I'm pretty sure a trainer's license covers our clearance. Plus we have a badge. That ought to count for something."

I yawned loudly. Mimicking me, Pikachu yawned too.

"Alright, let's get some sleep and hope we don't get eaten or something."

Pikachu gave a gurgling sound I assumed was a giggle.

))(())((

I would like to say that we kept the optimistic mood of our first day inside Mt. Moon with us for the following days, but it would be a lie. No matter how strong our nerves; the endless dark, shrieking zubat, and roars coming from afar, reminding me too much of Diamondback, strained us to our limits. We weren't just walking anymore, sometimes we had to climb steep walls or dive down caverns using our ropes. I had to use the knowledge imparted to me during training school to the furthest, but still no theoretical or practical test could have prepared me to this actual thing. My hands, knees, and elbows were bruised, blistered, and constantly bleeding. My feet always ached. Still, I was happy to see my sneakers held on. I wouldn't want to continue bare feet.

Pikachu too was in no better shape than me. He was particularly grouchy because striking all those zubat was depleting his electric charge. Running on limits, he no longer bothered with electric attacks, just tried jumping up and snapping his jaw when a zubat would swoop down. He did though once send a moderately large thunderbolt after the mankey, once the mankey tried escaping again.

My mankey was another issue. I knew training fighting types was hard. You always had to show them you were in charge, and if they even sensed a small amount of weakness, they took their chance to either bail on or assault you. I had to take him out sometimes so he could carry some of our stuff when we needed climbing, but seeing as we were physically not at our prime, he began taking more risks trying to free himself from us. I imagined he also hated the caves, mankey were forest and tree pokemon.

The only one of us who was the same was Poka. Aside from occasionally gnawing on pebbles, she kept her daily routine of walking, sleeping, and pointing north. Perhaps childish, but seeing her so tireless and expressionless made Pikachu and me envious and irritated. Such a boring mon, I thought as I swore to myself I would never train a rock pokemon.

It was our eighth 'night', aside from the dex, it was impossible to tell, that the battery on my pokedex failed. I groaned loudly as I set my sleeping bag. Before my dex shut down, I briefly saw that we were slightly off track, and my nine days guess was wrong, it would take an extra day for us to get out of this mountain.

"What's ten compared to nine, right?" I asked Pikachu sarcastically. He didn't even bother gesturing an answer and just collapsed where he stood. I followed him shortly.

))(())((

It was only a few hours later when I woke up. My senses were alert and my body was tense. I could hear Pikachu near me growling. I did not know what was about to happen, but having been in here for eight days I had learned to trust my gut.

"I need to see," I whispered and Pikachu flashed enough for me to reach a remaining torch and light it. I stood up, and with one hand I held the torch forward as a weapon while with my other I grasped a rock. I also set the mankey loose. The fact that he didn't run and stood his ground with us made me more nervous. He had probably guessed whatever was coming, he had higher chances of surviving with us. I also thought of setting Poka loose, but decided against it. If she died in battle, we would be lost here forever.

Noises could be heard. First high-pitched shrieks, then the fluttering of wings. I braced myself. Pikachu crackled under me.

The headache hit me first. I fell on my knees, dropping the stone and barely holding the torch. The shrieking grew louder and louder. Pikachu was holding his ears down, and the mankey was closing his with fists, crying in pain. I tried looking ahead but colors were mixed and the world was spinning. I barely made out what was happening.

Zubat. Also golbat. But even the never seen in wild crobat; large enough to pick up grown men, one of the fastest pokemon species in the world. A whole colony was on the move, thousands, maybe even millions heading towards us like a flood filling up the entire tunnel.

"Pikachu!" I cried out as I tried getting him under me. I dropped face down on my starter, and with my heavier bulk I managed to pin him against the floor and cover him with my body. Because of his superior senses, he was hit heavier than me by the confusing, high frequency waves the bats were defensively crying, I saw blood oozing out from his ears. I reached to the mankey, but panicked, he ran the opposite direction.

The first wave of bats passed over me, and I screamed as claws and fangs unintentionally tore into my back. Between my legs I saw the same bats picking up the on all fours running mankey and pulled him to pieces, midair.

Yet their focus is neither me nor the mankey, I barely thought as my synapses fried because of the non-ending high pitch noise. I could barely concentrate on my thoughts as another wave of bats flew over, each bat tearing a piece of my skin and flesh. They are escaping something. We're just distractions.

The massive tide of the flying pokemon continued over me, and like the river current breaking any stone that hindered its path to pieces, so did this flow of bats rip my back apart. I didn't know how long it lasted. I was about to pass out, but fought against it knowing with this many open wounds, if I went out of it, I would definitely die from blood loss. If I even have any blood left. And if the bats' poison doesn't kill me first.

The skin on my back was in tatters. Wings and claws crashed against it, again and again and again... I knew I was going to die and, oh, how I wanted to die. Anything to stop this torture.

Pikachu saved us. Sort of. He too was hurting and shivering because of the confuse rays the bats kept emitting, but his body was more or less intact, shielded by me. It took him many tries with his senses fried and all, but using his tail he finally managed to whip the pokeball remaining in my belt forwards. He touched with his nose the locking mechanism, and Poka stood in front of us.

Despite being old, Poka was still a rock type. A loyal and trained one too. She planted her feet and stood in front of us protectively, numerous zubat splattering on her hard behind and falling. Then, I guessed, she reached out with her mind to the ceiling above us. Her electromagnetic brain sent some signals, and maybe for the first time in years, she reestablished a connection with her roots of rock and stone. The cave made great noises, and the remaining bats increased their speed, but they were too late. In front of us, the ceiling collapsed, effectively sealing the tunnel and saving us from the onslaught of bats, meanwhile crushing the remaining colony.

Alas, all this was too much of a strain on old Poka's body. I barely saw her, I hurt so, so much, and I was crying and the tears blurred my vision. Pikachu crawled out under me and tried walking but passed out, too dizzy to move, which was probably for the best. He didn't get to see Poka's final moments as she slowly whirled around herself. Filled with the pride only a trainer's pokemon could feel, her nose pointed north one last time, and then she broke down into rubble.

No, no, no, dammit, no...

Whole body trembling, I barely inched towards Poka's remains. Tears of sorrow replaced those of pain, but I didn't want to waste Poka's gift of life. I crawled what seemed to be an eternity towards my bag.

She saved us, dammit, dammit, she didn't deserve this, I need to get out of here, I need-

Antidotes, I need antidotes, golbat are poisonous, golbat are blue, Blue-

Mom-

Mom, oh I'm sorry, the young always suffer.

-oh god I'm gonna die.

Help. Please.

Dad...

I passed out.

))(())((

I woke up to moonlight.

Wait, that's impossible.

I tried standing up but slipped and fell. I took a breath and my lungs filled with water. Coughing and splattering, I tried reaching surface and realized the water wasn't that high, my feet touched the bottom. I heard a splash, then saw Pikachu swimming my way. He reached me, and I hugged him tight. His tongue licked my neck.

"I know buddy, I know, I was worried too." He took his place on my shoulder and I stood up.

Where are we?

The only answer I could think of was paradise.

Beautiful.

We were in a waist deep pool, glowing green under what I had initially thought was moonlight. I was wrong but close, the light came not through the actual moon, but rather moon stones. The entire ceiling of this cavern was covered in these stones, shining their beams that had properties similar to moonlight.

I gasped as I continued gazing the ceiling. How many are there? Millions? Billions? Any man who found this place would be rich beyond his dreams, moon stones were the rarest of all evolutionary stones, both trainers and scientists would pay small fortunes for a single one. They were the backbone of Pewter's economy with them being found only in these particular areas.

But how is this possible, I thought. Mount Moon has no more resources left.

Clearly, everyone was misinformed. But it still didn't explain how this reserve had remained hidden; with in the old days miners searching day and night for valuables, it was highly unlikely I had just stumbled in to a vein by chance.

Wait. How did I get here?

I glanced at Pikachu who shrugged next to me. He too was clueless. Then I realized he looked better than I'd seen him the last couple of days. Curious, I now realized my own wounds were healed.

I felt multiple itches in the back of my mind, the early warning the human body gave to psychic attacks. I gave Pikachu a signal, and we both prepared our mental barriers up, tried to empty our minds, and got ready to act on instinct. Yet the minute our mysterious assailants sensed our psychic defenses up, the pressure disappeared.

I thought of our chances. Whoever these people were, they had helped us by bringing us here and healing us. I could sense they were definitely strong enough to break through our psyches, but they had pulled back once we had decided to defend ourselves. So they were neither violent nor confrontational.

Except this could have also been a trick to make us lower our guards. But they were already stronger than us, weren't they?

I sighed and let my defenses fall. Pikachu gave me a questioning look, but he too relaxed. Slowly, the mental pressure returned.

It wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, but I held on, I was too curious to find out who our saviors were. The probing only lasted a few minutes, it seemed they only wanted to learn if we were enemies or not.

I heard slow chimes as if bells were ringing and a chorus was singing. Eyes began materializing in the shadows, and they came out to the light.

Clefairy. And clefable. Even tiny cleffa.

My jaw dropped. Almost no one ever saw these rare fairy type pokemon. All fairy pokemon were naturally defensive, I remembered watching a clip of Cynthia's togekiss tanking hits, but clefairy were the most elusive. With remarkable regenerative abilities, they were shy but strong pokemon. They used their mid-level psychic capabilities to sense and hide from enemies, and they released powerful beams if confronted. Scientists suspected these were concentrated moonlight their bodies stored. A theory was that if a clefairy stored enough moon power, it would evolve into a clefable.

Well, I thought, that shouldn't be hard to happen here.

I understood the importance of this place now. This was a hidden sanctuary where clefairy came to evolve in peace. With all those years basked under the glow of moon stones and constantly visited by the fairies, the water itself was most likely mutated and had the same healing ability of the fairy pokemon, explaining Pikachu's and my recovery. Plus, this cavern was somewhere probably not only hard to reach physically, but also mentally, I suspected the collective psyche of the fairies constantly gave out hidden psychic suggestions, the likes of "go away", "ignore", "don't come"...

Which begged the question why they had brought me here when they could have let me die.

I saw a lone clefable step right in front of me, male, which made him even rarer. I stepped out of the water, just realizing I was naked and my stuff were missing. He was slightly shorter than me, so I crouched a little to look him in the eye.

Thank you, I tried thinking with more emotion than words for him to understand. I wanted him to sense my gratitude. And my curiosity. But why?

The answer was... complicated. My mind was flooded with images that I could not understand, being perceived by something so alien to mankind. Humans thought in symbols and words, but pokemon did not. Obviously smart and understanding my confusion, the clefable simplified its thoughts.

Help you, help us, were the words I would put to describe his thoughts. I nodded. I could work with this. They needed something from me, so they healed me. I hoped I could give it to them, because if not, I wasn't sure they would let me leave here alive. Pikachu and I were not enough to fight this many and my other pokemon were...

A lump sat at my throat. I tried burying the sorrow and feeling curiosity again. How?

An image of a trail, its meaning clear. Follow.

We walked together. What I guessed was about an hour later, he brought me to a clearing with a small hole to its wall. I looked out of it.

Actually, I looked down of it. Inside this labyrinth of tunnels, where we were now, was one of the higher levels. Down was the largest cavern I had ever seen.

Boom.

An explosion shook our cave and I almost fell. When the next explosion came I was ready and stood my ground.

Down, there were lights. And men. Lots of men. Men in white lab coats running around small tents. Men in worker's uniforms digging. Men using electrodes to blow up chunks of rocks. Men carrying guns and dangerous pokemon, pokemon like ursaring and machamp. Pokemon like graveler were also down, carrying and dragging carts full of gems.

We were high, but not that far from them. I could only guess that the reason we weren't spotted was the clefairy's collective mental influence. Yet how long could that last? How long had it been lasting?

I knew what this was the minute I saw it. This was an illegal mining operation. These people were digging up and smuggling moon stones, blowing up caverns in constant search for more. How long would it take for them to find the clefairy's hidden sanctuary?

Not only that, the constant explosions were disrupting the natural ecosystem, which probably scared the bat colony enough to migrate and...

I felt the lump in my throat let its place go to rage. These people here, these... terrorists, these villains were the reason my team was dead.

Mankey. Poka...

I stared directly into the clefable's eyes. Pikachu was sparkling with charge.

Let's end them.

))(())((

Author's Note:

Not much to say about this one. A small reference to the magikarp salesman in the games. Also to the shoes the player gets after entering Kanto Route 3.

Not sure how many of you know, the games and its remakes have an event where hidden clefairy come out during the night and dance around a hidden lake that is centered around a hidden moon stone in a hidden part of Mt. Moon. I guess that's kind of also in this chapter.

Despite being ugly, nosepass is one of my favorite pokemon. Don't care if you don't see the charm of a giant nose.

I kill myself with my chapter titles, "Frickin' Zubat", heh. I'd bet "frickin" was the least offensive adjective players used if they ran out of repels in Mt. Moon.

Next update: Week of December 11th.