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 FIVE

My Name is Red:

Stop it, I thought towards the clefairy gently nudging me on the side.

She stopped but looked troubled. I sighed and got up to leave from my observation point.

The past few... Days? Weeks? With my dex and other belongings gone, I had no way to tell. Anyway, I spent my time spying on our enemies closely and formulating plans to end them. The clefairy never left me alone, at least one of their kind was always with Pikachu and me, protecting us from being spotted with their mental invisibility.

I walked towards the underground spring that was the clefairy's headquarters and took a sip from the water. With all my resources gone, I was initially afraid that I would starve to death, but the mutated waters that healed my wounds had a heavy taste; full of minerals and Arceus knows what else, the miraculous fountain served to satisfy both my thirst and hunger.

I sat on a rock and the fairies gathered around me. Pikachu jumped in front of me and looked up expectantly.

"Here's what I know," I began addressing Pikachu. Trying to form my words in mental pictures so the clefairy could understand was too exhausting. Instead I spoke directly to Pikachu, who as a trained starter somewhat understood my words and as a pokemon was more successful in telegraphing mental messages to the clefairy. I only hoped not much was lost in this indirect way of communication.

"I counted forty miners, changing shifts twice what I assume is in a day. A quarter work on the explosions and the rest dig. They look well fed and strong, but other than pickaxes and shovels, I haven't seen weapons on them. There are four or five graveler that walk around dragging carts, but again I don't think they are battlers. They are there just for labor."

I took another sip of water to wet my throat. "I think there are about twenty guards. At least ten of them are trainers; I counted two ursaring, three machamp, and two poliwrath patrolling on regular intervals. Also the two yanmega flying above, I have no idea how you are shielding us from their senses."

Their roster is too good, I thought to myself. Yanmega were incredible pokemon, their near three-hundred-sixty-degree sight and six directional flying skills made them perfect scouts and surveillance systems. We were lucky that the collective psyche of the clefairy was enough to hide us from even them, but I was sure the bugs would detect us if we tried any kind of assault.

"The guards that do not have pokemon have either spears or crossbows. Two of them have guns directed towards the two main entrances of their cave. We're lucky that we are above them, an attack from the ceiling will surprise them."

Guns in the hands of grunts didn't trouble me that much, I was sure Pikachu could fry them before they even took aim. What concerned me more were the two leaders of these men. My brows rose in worry as I continued. "The real problem is the two captains - the woman with the arbok and the man with the weezing. These guys are good, probably near gym leader material. I'm assuming it's because of these two that you haven't stormed this camp with sheer numbers yet."

The clefairy around me gave an understanding hum.

Who are these two? I wondered. Judging from how they ordered their pokemon and the way they were obeyed, I knew that these two were seasoned soldiers. I once saw their pokebelts clearly, they had full, six-member teams. Together, these two held a total number of fully trained twelve pokemon, and with the support the rest of their men gave, it was impossible for me and the group of wild clefairy to win this fight. I shook my head and went on with my report.

"Other than these two, there is a four-person research team that keeps analyzing my dex and the stones the graveler bring in."

I was momentarily angry as I remembered the day one of their scouts had found and brought in my bag that survived the zubat. In an effort to identify me, their scientists had gone through my pokedex, but it wasn't easy to hack tech made by Professor Oak. Still, my unique dex had peaked the scientists' interest, and they had been working on it ever since. It physically pained me to know that these bandits held in their hands something the professor had trusted me with.

Swallowing my anger, I continued. "These scientists always have a kirlia with them, which I think is a means for quick escape via teleportation. We'll have to take the kirlia out first if we want to end this here and now."

"Their tents are centrally located in the cave. The mining operations continue around, and expand outwards from their base. One of the tents contains electrodes, we'll have to mind that one carefully to avoid a cave in. But near that tent is their hostage."

I grinned. I lucked up on that piece of information when I overheard two of the guards chatting about the "fossil freak hogging too much of their resources".

"Now if I'm right about this 'fossil freak'..." I hoped I was, otherwise we were doomed. "We might have a chance here to win this without lifting a finger. But we need stealth. And we need to act quick. Also we need to prepare a defense right here. Do you guys follow?"

Many pairs of eyes looked at me questioningly. Great.

"Ok." I sighed. "Let me explain again..."

))(())((

The yanmega flew lazily in front of me. I was once again leering down the hole that separated our hideout from their camp. Pikachu was on my shoulders trembling, and the male clefable I met on my first day, who I later understood was some sort of pack leader to the fairies, was next to me.

My plan was... Not sane would be putting it politely. Like my match with Brock, it hanged on a lot of "ifs". Then again, I had actually won against Brock, so I could win here again.

Maybe.

"Alright," I said as I pulled Pikachu from my shoulder. "I need you here buddy. In case everything goes south, I'm going to need cover fire."

Pikachu growled loudly.

"Listen we went through this. Just... Just stay here, ok? I promise I'm coming back alive." I hoped I was telling the truth.

Pikachu stared at me for a moment. Then he turned towards the clefable. His fur crackled again as he gave a last warning growl. The clefable hummed peacefully in return. Their exchange over, Pikachu took a more advantageous position to send bolts downwards in case I needed protection.

I didn't like leaving him but had no choice. My mission now would be hindered by numbers, I needed stealth.

I crouched a little so the clefable could climb on my back. I grunted as his small claws grasped me tightly, he wasn't as heavy as I suspected, but still, the added weight surprised me. Panting, I grabbed and held tight the makeshift flask filled with the fairies' miracle water. I had made the flask out of zubat wing skin. It wasn't perfect, it leaked some of its content, but it would do.

I looked down the hole one last time. From where I was, the tents looked tiny and the people like durant. I gulped. Can this really work? Or am I actually crazy? I wasn't one of those people who had acrophobia, but the camp looked way down there, while I was way up here.

A minute passed while I stared down the hole.

One of the yanmega flew under me and then away from my sight.

Another minute passed.

I heard Pikachu's silent whimpers near.

The clefable kicked me once with his short legs.

Let's get this over with.

I jumped.

I bit my tongue to not scream out. The dive was long, and without the clefable I would have definitely died. He was stretching his tiny wings as far out as he could, trying to build more air resistance so we could glide instead of fall. At the same time, he was cushioning us telekinetically and masking us telepathically.

Still we hit the ground hard.

We landed in the middle of a few tents. My eyes watering from pain, I dropped the tired clefable from my back and quickly held my flask to his mouth. His eyes slightly regained their lively look as he drank the few gulps of miracle water I saved.

I looked up to the yanmega carefully - were we spotted? No, thankfully the clefable was strong enough to both hide and soften our fall, but I could see his face frowning. I imagined being away from the collective psyche of his friends, now masking us alone from the entire camp, and dealing with the psychic pressure of the enemy kirlia were all draining him fast.

"Don't move," I whispered. "Save your energy and hang on. I'll try handling this quickly." I dived in the nearest tent, guessing it was empty. Based on my spy work, I had actually timed this mission carefully. Right now, most of the guards were patrolling the perimeters, and the workers were on their way towards the mines. I expected only the researchers and a few of the guards to be in the base right now.

The tent was indeed empty. I found some spare working clothes I put on. A size too large, but I was finally free of being naked. It made good camouflage too, if someone the clefable too late to block saw me, I would be indistinguishable from the other workers. At least from a distance, I heavily thought, hoping I wouldn't encounter anyone.

I exited and tried remembering my way through the maze of tents I had only seen from above. I found the research tent first and made note of its location in my mind. I passed through another row of tents and my heart thumped loudly when suddenly a guard with an ursaring walked right in front of me.

The huge pokemon sniffed the air once and turned his head towards me. I breathed in relief as his eyes passed through, the strong clefable was still hiding me from sight. But he could do nothing to mask my scent. The ursaring continued sniffing the air hungrily, trying to make sense of what he could smell but not see.

"Move on, there's nothing there, move on you log," said his owner. The ursaring looked pass me one last time, then they continued walking out of my sight. I stood another minute still to be safe, then went on searching.

Finally, I found the electrode tent, standing a bit distanced from the rest of the base. A guard with a poliwrath was in front, I avoided gazing into the spiral shaped hypnotic marks on the underbelly of the pokemon. Near the tent was a pole, and a man wearing ripped clothes sat next to it in his own dirt. He was chained to the pole by his ankles. He looked tortured.

I walked as silently as I could near him. I knelt and whispered. "Don't scream. I'm a trainer and here to help."

The man startled and made a small sound, as if he was trying to muffle a scream. He reacted better than I had anticipated, hearing voices out of nowhere would have made anyone scared. I went on whispering. "You can't see me - never mind how. Just answer me by nodding. We don't have much time."

I asked my first question "Were you here to study fossil eggs?"

The man nodded.

"And they captured you after you coincidentally stumbled on their operation?"

Another nod. I wondered why they hadn't killed him instead of keeping him imprisoned, but those were questions for another day.

"So you're a scientist?"

Nod.

"Are you familiar with pokedex technology?"

The man looked up surprised. I was tense, everything hanged on the answer of this question.

He nodded. I invisibly relaxed. "Here's what I need you to do..."

After I gave my instructions, I made my way back to the research tent, luckily encountering no other guards. But I knew I was short out of time. The rest of the guards would have finished up their patrol about now, meaning they were probably on their way back. I steadied myself and walked right in.

I had no hope of the clefable hiding me when I was this close to the kirlia, so I wasn't surprised when one of the men in white coats looked up at me and asked. "Aren't you supposed to be working right now?"

I shook my head as I walked in spying my surroundings. Inside were cases full of numerous different evolutionary stones, and on the table in the center stood many technical devices. The four men sat around the table, and in the hands of one of them I saw my pokedex. In a corner were two large, weirdly shaped stones, I assumed them to be fossil eggs. The kirlia was near the man who had spoken with me.

I put my mental guards up, hoping the kirlia wouldn't poke to deeply. "Some kind of alert," I lied. "The captain sent me to fetch some dex - she said you would understand which."

"Why didn't she call us?" another of the men suspiciously asked. I shrugged my shoulders, thinking it would be more believable to not know some answers - a captain wouldn't waste time explaining to a lowly worker like the one I was acting.

"Probably wanted to avoid our frequencies being traced," the first man said as he reached out to hand me the pokedex. "Them league bastards are still in Pewter and patrolling the river road. Here, take it," he addressed me. My heart leaped, but playing it cool, I took my dex from him calmly. I bid them farewell with a nod and exited.

I almost collapsed with relief when I felt the clefable's influence back. As I had hoped, the scientists had gotten complacent with their protection here, they never suspected that someone could have infiltrated them this far and trusted anyone wearing their worker uniform completely. They hadn't even asked their kirlia to probe me. Trusting my luck even more now, I opened my dex. Come on, come on, come on, yes! Those idiots! In an effort to analyze my pokedex, the scientists had fully charged it, but they couldn't have had made it past the security measures Professor Oak had programmed. I entered my private password, and my dex came to life. Missed you old friend.

I walked as silently as I could back towards the prisoner. I found him more easily than the first time, but the laughter and the general increase in shouting I could hear meant my time was nearly up, the rest of security had returned. I dropped my pokedex in front of the prisoner. The metallic cling it made after hitting the solid ground startled him. His eyes fixed for a moment on the dex, then he quickly took it with his free hands. Satisfied, I was about to make my retreat when two things happened.

First, the tingling in my mind vanished. Second, the prisoner looked at me eyes wide, and I meant he really looked at me. I realized he could see me, which meant something had happened to the clefable.

And without that clefable, the guards can...

"Hey, halt! Away from him, what are you doi-"

I didn't wait for that sentence to end, I ran as fast as I could. A whizz and a thud, something scratched my shoulder, a crossbow bolt narrowly missed me. I kept running though, trying to make my way back to where I last left the clefable.

The yanmega in the air were now whizzing their great insect wings and screeching loudly, making an annoyingly high-pitched alarm sound. A lightning bolt hit one of them, and the giant insect fell down.

"Atta boy," I muttered out of breath. The whole camp was alive now, footsteps could be heard chasing me and instructions I could not follow were announced on loudspeakers. I was lost trying to avoid my pursuers when I ran into two guards and a machamp. I hid behind my acting skills again.

"What's going on, what's going on?" I screamed like a concerned worker.

"Get back to your tent miner! That's an order!" roared one of the men.

I ran a small distance before I heard the noise from their radio. "The intruder is disguised as one of our workers, I repeat, the intruder is disguised as-"

"Halt!" came a cry behind me which I obviously ignored. I thought I was nearer to the clefable, when it came out of nowhere. The purple tail tripped me, and the long slender body immediately coiled itself around, crushing me. I tried gasping for air as my eyes bulged out of their sockets. The arbok's head turned itself towards me, and its hood widened. The mouth opened, I could see the venom dripping fangs, I couldn't close my eyes. They came closer to my face and-

"Stop, Nagina."

The coils relaxed enough for me to breath. Gasping, I looked towards my captor. She was tall and muscular; her red hair was long and kept down until it reached her waist. A small red letter "R" was sewn on the upper arm of her black clothes. She looked at me straight, her eyes were slits like her arbok's.

"You and I are going to have a chat," she said, grinning evilly.

))(())((

I was tied to a chair in one of the larger tents. Light shone directly towards me, hurting my eyes and making it impossible for me to identify the two silhouettes in front, though I suspected one of them to be the woman who caught me, one of the captains. Which meant the other one was probably the man with the weezing.

I heard cries outside, noises of guns exploding, and thunder striking. I imagined quite the battle going on.

"We found that opening above. What you are hearing is the last fight those clefairy are giving. Our men are already deploying electrodes to blow them up."

"Shame really, I was hoping Nagina could taste on more - aside from the one helping you."

I closed my eyes. So that was how that brave clefable had met his end. I'm sorry...

"Your name?" the first voice asked.

I spat back. After killing Poka, after killing my mankey, after killing the clefable... These two seriously expect me to spill?

"Who do you work for? What were you doing in our camp?"

"How did you find us?"

I stood silent. I heard the man sigh "Looks like he isn't going to talk Jessie."

"Seems so James."

"You leave us no option boy," James said. I saw the shadow of his hand reach his belt, and I braced myself.

A sweet scent like a heavy perfume filled the air. A yellow, grotesque looking shape with large leaves on its sides materialized. Two hidden eyes could be seen underneath the dark hole covered by a single leaf. A thorny vine was spasming hard in the air, connected to the main body.

The flycatcher pokemon.

"Venus, darling, if you may."

I screamed as the pointy end of the victreebel's vine went through my left shoulder, I could feel the thorns cutting tissue from the inside. The vine came back out and then slapped my face, ripping skin off. It hovered for a moment, then went through my right foot. I screamed again.

"Your name?" James asked again.

"Fuck you!" I couldn't help myself.

"Oh, look James, he can talk!" Jessie laughed in delight. "Let's hear from him some more."

Venus' lower body began contracting in front of me. Slowly, the movement made its way upwards, and then the leaf guarding its horrid mouth opened up. For a moment I saw the sharp inner teeth. Next, stomach acid flew out the mouth, randomly landing all over me.

"Aaaaaarghhh!" I convulsed all over, but my body was tightly bound. In pain, I rocked from right to left until I fell with the chair sideways. I hit the rocky surface but barely felt it as acid melted my flesh. It burns, it burns, ohhh I'm going to make you pay you assholes, it burns.

"Burning tends to happen when acid meets skin deary," Jessie said, likely reading my thoughts. "Now if you were to answer our simple questions..."

"All stick, no treats?" I cried, still sideways on the ground.

"We're all out of them, I'm afraid," James mockingly said. "But I do admire you asking. In fact, I'm generally impressed by the way you're holding out, most begin spilling after Venus cuts them. Though your resistance is entirely pointless."

He walked and knelt over me. I could see him more clearly now, like Jessie, he too wore all black except for the red "R" sewn on his shoulder. His hair was unusual though, I couldn't tell exactly, but it had to be some shade of blue. He brought his mouth closer towards my ear.

"I have a confession to make," he whispered. "I don't really need to... I don't want to say torture, it's just such a crass word. Let's say I don't need to treat you this violently. We already have a high-level psychic in our midst, we can just simply pluck the needed information out of your mind."

He's talking about the kirlia, I thought. There was no way I could mentally hold out against a real psychic type like a kirlia, if I wanted to distract them long enough, I could only hope they would use it as a last measure. Though I had a faint suspicion about where James was going with his speech, and if I was right, the mindspection would only come much, much later.

"You see, the truth is, I enjoy my job. Much." James grinned, the white of his teeth shining. "And when we simply take information out of our captives' minds, instead of making them give it, well, I just don't get the same amount of satisfaction."

"I get it," I sarcastically replied. "You're just the whole package aren't you, your everyday sadistic psycho, the one who needs an object to vent out his sexual frustrations." I spat again and continued "Frankly, I'm tired of your bad cop routine. Isn't it time for the good cop to step in already?"

"I'm afraid we're out of those too." He stood up and kicked me hard in the face. I felt a tooth come loose and tasted blood.

"You see, we think we already know who you are." This time it was Jessie. "So stop me if you've heard this one before. A lone, single badge trainer enters a mountain. The mountain isn't kind though, it hits back. The kid is supposed to die, but doesn't. By stroke of luck, a group of forgotten pokemon save him. They nurture him to health and show him us baddies threatening their existence. He decides to help them by huffing, puffing, and blowing the big bad guys away. Except he doesn't know he is way above his head. Anything about this story familiar?"

"Sounds almost about right," I muttered in a low voice. My mouth felt numb because of the kick James gave me.

"Almost. Uh-huh." James spoke again, "And what part of it doesn't sound right?"

From the floor I was knocked over to, I gave them a wide, bloody smile up. They paused for a moment.

"What's your end game here kid? You know you have nothing." Changing tactics, Jessie sounded as nice as a hypno luring a child. "I get you are naive and young and want to stop us villains here doing illegal work - trainer's honor and all that they teach at school. But guess what boy? Time to take off the kiddie wheels, welcome to life. It hurts."

"Just tell us what we already know. Tell us you are a nobody and lost your way here. Tell us no one else knows you are here and we will kill you and be done with it. Otherwise-"

"We are afraid-"

"The torture will continue. We are-"

"Really offering you-"

"The lesser of two evils here boy." Jessie and James completed each other's sentences.

The tooth finally coming loose, I spat it out of my mouth and gave a grin. "I am a nobody. Nobody knows I am here." I began laughing aloud after - I couldn't help myself.

A short silence followed. Jessie was the first to speak "See you go and do that now - well now I'm inclined not to believe you."

"I agree," James said. "Try it again boy, but make us believe it this time."

He snapped his fingers and Venus' vine went through my other shoulder, this time remaining there and twisting itself in. I gritted my teeth trying to stop my tears.

"Excuse me sirs-" A third voice I never heard. I saw a flicker of shadow; the newcomer must have just entered.

"What?" snapped James.

"Nothing sir, I brought the kirlia you asked fo..." the voice silently trailed off.

I understood that the man had recognized me. So did Jessie and James.

"Henry, do you know him?" James asked sweetly.

"N- No sir. I mean, I saw him before, sir, but I don't know him, sir."

"You don't know him but saw him before. That's great Henry, great." Jessie almost purred. "And where did you see him Henry?"

Silence. Followed by an almost inaudible "In our tent."

"Uh huh. So this boy came into you guys' little science tent. Aside from you lot not recognizing him as an intruder, anything else interesting happened?"

Another silence. Then, "He took the dex back."

James made a fake laugh. "When you say dex, you obviously don't mean the custom made pokedex, the unknown piece of technology we found, do you Henry? Because I refuse to believe a group of smart guys such as yourselves just simply gave a device with unknown capabilities to a stranger."

An even longer silence.

"Sir, he said it was on her orders and-"

I never heard the rest. But I did see poor Henry fall, a hole in his forehead where the victreebel had just struck. James knelt near Henry's body and tugged on his waist. When he stood up, he held a new pokeball in his hand. He pressed the trigger button, and a kirlia appeared.

They turned their attention back to me. "Well, kid." James was more serious now. "Looks like we underestimated you."

"People tend to do that," I allowed.

"Tell us everything about that dex - what does it do, what did you do with it, where is it now. Everything. Spill." I could hear the anger in Jessie's voice.

"Or we can just take it." James threatened. The kirlia's eyes glowed.

If my plan's not gonna work now, it never is.

"Wait," I said. "There's no need for that. I'll talk." I struggled with my bonds. "Though it is hard talking with my face down," I muttered.

The vine punctured another hole in me coming out of my back. I screamed as it tugged me upwards straight.

"Thank you," I said, trembling all over. I wondered if I had any internal bleeding. "I will tell you everything."

"Firstly," I began calmly and gave my explanations like a teacher in class. "You two look like experienced trainers, so how about a little trivia. Dark pokemon are unaffected by mental attacks and cannot be detected by psychic measures. Furthermore, like ghost pokemon, they can shadow, a transportation method of entering one shadow and exiting through another. Though incredibly fast, only the best trainers prefer this method, the danger of being dropped mid-shadow being too great for most. True or false?"

The vine cut me on the face again. I shut my eyes in pain. "I'll take that as true. Ok, what were your questions again?" The vine rose in front of me menacingly. "Wait, wait. I remember. My pokedex, right?"

I shut my eyes briefly, hoping I was buying enough time. I continued. "My pokedex has an experimental new software which is supposed to have a broader range and a bunch of other features. That's really all there is to it. Oh, wait, almost forgot. It also has a direct link with the personal dex of the man who designed it, so that I can send him reports of any bugs or glitches I found. The link is on a frequency that avoids jamming and is unaffected by distance - the man who made it wanted me to be able to reach him anytime, from anywhere. This man's name is, well, do you know who the smartest man in Indigo is?"

I braced for the vine but nothing came. They are probably putting it together right now - I need to stall them more.

"Let me give a hint. He's named after a tree and has great friends up at the Plateau."

The vine came again this time. "We know who he is," whispered Jessie. "Did you send a message to Samuel Oak?"

I shook my head. They seemed to relax. Not yet you don't. "I didn't but someone else did. Someone else did this while you two were too busy with me. Which actually answers the question of who I am." I smiled. "I'm the distraction."

The vine hit me. Again and again. I laughed manically against the pain. James was screaming "Who sent the message? Where is this dex?"

I grinned bloodily. "Tell me, why do you only chain your prisoners by the ankle? Leaves their hands empty."

This time, I truly managed to stun them. Then Jessie picked up her radio, frantically yelling. "Kill the prisoner, he has a pokedex with him, crush it!"

The radio crackled, but no sound came from the other side. Simultaneously, the sound of battle from outside seemed to increase.

Finally.

"Now, let's say the smartest man in Indigo was made aware of an illegal operation going on in Mount Moon." I continued. "He would probably alert his friends up at the Plateau, right? And what a coincidence it would be when he would hear that one of the Elite Four was already in Pewter. A trainer of dark types even. So my final question is: How long do you think would it take for a dark type trainer shadowing to find this place after entering the tunnels?"

I answered my own question. "I would say it would take about the time of this interrogation, wouldn't you?"

The victreebel's vine came fast, but something even faster attacked from the shadows. The houndoom spat fire and the vine crumbled to ash, making Venus screech. In non-stopping motion, the houndoom jumped next atop the kirlia, which didn't even have the time to teleport as the dark pokemon broke its neck. James recalled Venus as fast as he could and Jessie released her arbok, but the houndoom, finished with the kirlia, stood in front of me protectively.

"One last thing." I glared. "My name is Red. Remember it."

The houndoom opened its mouth and breathed fire again, however Jessie was ready this time. I didn't even see her move as she released her second pokemon, a wobbufet. The fire was absorbed by the jelly like blue pokemon, and I knew that it was only a moment before it would be returned with double the intensity.

Come on. I rocked my body again to drop the chair. The houndoom in front of me jumped and sank in the shadows when the wobbufet released the stored flames. I managed to fall down and the blazing heat went over me, burning me on my entire left side. I cried out in pain as the smell of burning flesh filled the tent.

The houndoom jumped out again, this time aiming to bite the wobbufet, but Jessie had already called it back. I saw them both escaping outside and the houndoom pursuing them, leaving me alone injured.

My eyes began itching as I coughed without stopping. Smoke. Great. The tent had caught fire in the exchange and was burning inside out. With me caught right in the middle.

Come on, come on, there has to be a sharp stone, a knife, something, around here! I tried looking but the smoke was making it difficult to see. I couldn't even move, tied tightly to the chair I was. I closed my eyes in defeat. This is it then. Strangely, I was at peace unlike my time with the zubat onslaught. Guess you can even get used to dying.

My eyes shut, I held my breath to avoid inhaling smoke. My mouth had that bitter, blood taste and my skin was burning from both the heat and the acid. The only sense working was my hearing, which alerted me to the patter of small feet.

I opened the lid of my eye narrowly. Pikachu was there, he had somehow made it to me. He was trying to bite off the rope binding me. "No time," I hoarsely whispered. "Burn it off." He had a moment's hesitation, but then sent a small controlled spark towards the ropes to my left which were already slightly damaged due to the wobbufet's return fire. I felt a sting as they turned to ash, but I was finally free.

"Let's go." I staggered up but fell again, I had forgotten the injury the victreebel left on my foot. Half hopping half dragging myself, Pikachu and I made it out just in time as the tent behind us collapsed. I gasped for fresh air as I hugged Pikachu.

"I am never, never leaving without you again," I whispered. Pikachu gave his giggling sound.

I checked my surroundings, all around I could hear yelling, roars, and explosions. The camp was burning and the smoke was beginning to build in the cave. I heard an explosion from above, and rocks fell from the ceiling at a distance from me. The cries increased from that direction.

Boom. Another explosion and the earth underneath me shook. "We have to get outta here," I muttered. "There's gonna be a cave in at this rate. Can you get us out?" Pikachu nodded and led forwards, me crawling behind him. Madness surrounded us. So this is war.

Something threw a man, and he crushingly landed in front of us, his arms were lifeless and opened wide. As we passed over him I saw another man holding a gun and firing rapidly at a large shape. The rhyperior turned and charged, bullets ricocheted off his thick skin, and its horn pierced through the assaulter. On our way, one of the scientists I saw earlier was holding his hands high and yelling "I surrender! I surrender!", then he fell down still. I saw a giant needle thick as my thumb nailed deep behind his head.

I finally saw our destination, the opening in the ceiling leading to the fairies' hideout was blasted wide. Debris had made a jagged pathway up, which was how I assumed Pikachu had climbed down. I hopelessly looked up at my salvation. I couldn't climb that. Not in this condition.

No use in whining.

Gritting my teeth, I reached out and pulled myself up the first few steps, Pikachu behind, guarding my rear. I immediately understood making it all the way up was impossible, my shoulders were both pierced and didn't have the strength to carry myself. Panting, I laid back.

Small hands appeared in front of me. Three clefairy led by a clefable held me tightly in their arms and began climbing up the path in hurry. Pikachu was right behind them, occasionally setting thunderbolts down to the battlefield. I saw a poliwrath struck by one during a leap and fall.

Thank you, I thought to the fairies. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

An image came into my mind, the male clefable with whom I had attempted this mission. Next, a sense of question.

I understood. I'm sorry, he's dead.

The grips of the clefairy tightened, and the clefable gave a whimper, but otherwise our mental exchange was over.

I had a good view of the battlefield down below. Nearby I saw Karen with her absol battling both Jessie and James at the same time; the arbok's tail seemed to have been cut off at the end, and a cacturne was shooting needles. Ahead, I saw league trainers with their own pokemon cornering their opponents, guns were still blazing and electrodes were rolling all over exploding randomly. Yet I knew it was nearly over, everywhere I looked I saw league reinforcements teleporting in or climbing out of the shadows. I even heard a familiar roar as Diamondback materialized near the fight between Karen and the two captains.

Apparently, Jessie and James also thought that they would lose, now that both a leader and a four were here. I briefly saw the cacturne dragging the two towards itself before a weezing puffed out a huge smokescreen covering them, next thing I knew they were gone.

The captains disappearing did not stop the battle itself though. I briefly saw both Karen and Brock fighting new opponents when the clefairy pulled me back through the opening, blocking my vision. They began carrying me to the direction of their hideout.

Wait, I thought. We need to collapse this entrance. Otherwise you'll be found. I didn't trust their sanctuary even in the hands of the league, we had to hide it, otherwise I was sure, this time legally, someone would try profiting off this place.

I hadn't exactly thought in pictures, but the clefable understood me. She began humming a small song, and out of her outreached palms flew a powerful beam carving its way above us. Rubble came crumbling down, and the noise of battle got canceled out as the opening sealed itself.

Right. See. It all worked out, were my last thoughts as I passed out for the second time in these mountains.

))(())((

"Aaaargh!" I woke up screaming.

I was blind. I was sure of it. I saw nothing but white and my eyes burned. In my panic I tripped over something. I felt something near licking my face.

Slowly, the brightness of the white diminished. A few minutes later I could see clearly. Too clearly. I looked up.

The sun.

Oh, how I missed you.

I was finally out. The clefairy had dumped me outside of their mountain. I looked down the hill I was. In a distance a city built on water could be seen.

Cerulean City. I went through hell for it, but I made it.

I groaned in pain, and my gratitude for the clefairy lessened after I saw they hadn't healed my wounds like last time. Also I was still in my worker clothes, all my resources, and sadly, my dex were still gone.

I noticed Pikachu nibbling my feet and clutching something tight. My eyes widened as he dropped a single moon stone.

One moon stone did not make me rich. But it was more than enough to restock my supplies, buy new clothes, and continue my journey.

I took one last look at the mountain behind me. Raising my middle finger, I flipped it off - I couldn't help myself. Then Pikachu and I began our pathetic walk towards Cerulean, where hopefully we would win our second badge.

))(())((

Author's Note:

The fossil freak is reference to the, uhh, fossil freak you fight in Mt. Moon. Worry not, you'll see the almighty helix and worthless dome fossils later.

In the games, this is where you first encounter Jessie and James. Jessie's arbok and wobbuffet are based on the anime, and though not stated, one of the yanmega (the one Pikachu didn't shoot down) is also hers. James' weezing, victreebel, and cacturne are all based on the anime. Time will tell what Jessie and James' each remaining three pokemon are. Special imaginary hugs to those who can guess them right before revealed.

I hope you all remember Karen's houndoom and absol, also Brock's Diamondback from Chapter 3: Dropping Mountains. This is also the chapter where I first explained shadowing.

We're out of Mt. Moon. Will Red finally reach Cerulean next chapter? No. Because next chapter will be a Blue POV one.

Next Update: 18th December