I intended to have this done by now… Like I mentioned before, this really could have been part of the last chapter. Mt. Moon is kind of hard to deal with because of all the little, unimportant things that happen there; specifically the introduction of Team Rocket and the discovery of the fossils. One might wonder what Cambrian Era fossils are doing in the middle of a mountain, but what do I know…
Red spotted a small pink Pokémon skipping along one of the corridors. It had a tightly curled up tail and tiny wings on its back. Its large ears had brown tips and waggled when the creature heard Red's approaching footsteps. It turned around to reveal its bright eyes and stubby limbs. It seemed perplexed by Red; perhaps it hadn't seen a human before.
"It's a Clefairy!" Red whispered so as not to startle the possibly shy Pokémon.
"It's a-dorable!" Green cheered, showing no such restraint.
"Clefairy's hardly ever seen by people…" Red mumbled to himself, not paying Green's antics any mind. "I can't miss this opportunity…!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Green interjected as she shoved Red briskly out of the way.
"Go find your own Clefairy!" Red groaned.
"I'll let you catch the next rare Pokémon we find, but Clefairy is all mine!"
The Clefairy didn't seem to care which of the strange creatures won the argument, or even what it was about. It just wanted the noise to go away. When Green sent out her Ivysaur, the Clefairy seemed to catch on to what they wanted. Clefairy leapt forward and batted Ivysaur on the head with its little fist. The Pound attack only irritated Ivysaur at best.
"Use Vine Whip to immobilize it!" Green ordered. Ivysaur did so, his vines far too fast for Clefairy to outrun. The little imp struggled against Ivysaur's grip and Green lost what little self-control she had left. She rushed over to the two Pokémon and wrapped her arms around the already held Clefairy. "You're just too cute!" she squealed. Without batting an eyelash, Clefairy bopped Green in the nose like it had Ivysaur's head. Red guessed from its expression that Clefairy was disappointed at not being taken seriously. "Cute and spirited…" Green noted rubbing her now sore nose, Red nodding in agreement.
Still suspended in the air, Clefairy started to sing a hypnotic song. "That's not good," Green said to herself, having encountered a similar song from another Pokémon before. "Ivysaur, use Stun Spore!" Despite his grogginess, Ivysaur launched a spray of golden powder from the blossom on his back. The cloud enveloped Clefairy just as Ivysaur's vines dropped it. Ivysaur was out cold and snoring, but Clefairy was unable to move. Green took the opportunity to throw a Pokéball, capturing Clefairy on her first try. "Woohoo! I got it!"
"Congratulations…" Red mumbled irritably as he passed her along the pathway.
"Oh, you're not still sore about me catching Clefairy are you?" As Green spoke something caught Red's eye. The Pokéball that contained the newly caught Clefairy shimmered and vanished on the cave floor.
"So that's what happens…" Red said to himself. Pokémon Trainers are only supposed to carry up to six Pokémon at a time. Red was wondering how that was enforced, now he knew.
Red and Green had been walking through Mt. Moon for most of the day and even Red was getting tired of all the winding corridors. Eventually, they were waylaid by a strange some strange rocks in the middle of the path.
"What are these?" Green asked, picking one up.
"Hey, stop!" a nasally voice called. A nerdy-looking man stepped out of one of the many chambers and confronted the pair. "Those fossils are mine! You can't have any!"
"We don't want to take your fossils," Green told the man, putting the rock back where she found it.
"The only way you'll get one of my fossils is if you beat me in a battle!"
"But we don't-" Green started to say. She stopped when Red pushed past her.
"The match will be best of three, alright?"
"Fine by me," Red agreed as he sent out Pidgey. Surprisingly, neither Red nor Green recognized the Fossil Guy's Pokémon.
The Fossil Guy's Pokémon looked like a living mass of purple sludge. It had beady little black pupils on fair-sized eyes. It had what appeared to be two arms and a mouth that worked like any other creatures, but the entire thing was made of slime! Red made a point not to smell it because he had a feeling he could guess what it smelled like.
"It's called Grimer," Green relayed from her Pokédex as she tried to back away from the slime creature. "It's a Poison-Type Pokémon. Watch out Red!"
"Grimer, use Poison Gas attack!" the Trainer ordered.
"Not a chance! Pidgey, Gust!"
Grimer billowed a noxious purple gas from its mouth at Pidgey. As ordered, Pidgey responded by whipping up small tornado that not only harmlessly dissipated the Poison Gas, but also sent Grimer flying into a wall.
"Uh-oh, Grimer, use Pound now!"
"Too slow! Pidgey, Quick Attack!"
Grimer launched forward after Pidgey, but it dodged so fast it seemed to vanish. The attack came a breath later from behind, knocking Grimer out cold. Pidgey's speed stunned the other Trainer, and even Green, silent.
"That's one for our team," Red noted confidently, a feeling mirrored by his Pidgey.
"But how could a Pidgey move that fast?" the Fossil Guy gasped as he recalled his unconscious Grimer.
"Simple," Red smiled, "He's no ordinary Pidgey!" Pidgey nodded strongly before being recalled himself.
"Whatever," the Fossil Guy sneered, "you won't get lucky twice! Koffing, go!"
"Then I choose Zubat!"
Red's pale blue eyeless bat was met with a strange floating purple ball. It had nodes all over its body that leaked foul-smelling gas. It had dopy-looking eyes and a skull-and-crossbones under its perpetually grinning mouth.
"Koffing, use Poison Gas attack!"
The foe's Koffing belched out a cloud of poisonous smoke like Grimer. This time, however, the gas enveloped Zubat. It didn't seem to do anything and the mere beating of its wings was enough to dissipate the toxin.
"Why didn't it work?" the Fossil Guy complained.
"I thought so," Red grinned, "Poison Gas doesn't work on other Poison Pokémon. Zubat, Wing Attack!"
Zubat sped forward, smacking Koffing in what would be its nose if it had one. Koffing tumbled through the air for a moment before catching itself.
"Quick, Koffing, do something! Tackle attack!"
"Zubat, Leach Life!"
Koffing charged right into Zubat, but when the two Pokémon connected, Zubat wrapped its wings around the foe. With the foe's Koffing unable to shake Zubat's grip, Zubat sunk its fangs into Koffing. Green had to stifle a gag at the thought of biting a bag of toxic gas. It seemed to work out fine for Zubat, though, as once it let go of Koffing it dropped like lead, unconscious.
"We win!" Red announced.
"No, no, no, NO!" the Fossil Guy complained, throwing a minor temper tantrum, "Get them, Voltorb!" When the Pokémon appeared, it looked like a Pokéball with eyes! It had no arms or legs or mouth, just two angry-looking eyes.
"Haven't had enough?!" Red threatened as he recalled Zubat, "Charmeleon!" Red's partner appeared, his flaming tail illuminating the cave.
"Voltorb, blow them away with Sonic Boom!"
"That's nothing! Charmeleon, Flamethrower!"
The foe's Voltorb loosed a blast of sound that Charmeleon easily dodged. A moment later it was over when Charmeleon breathed fire on his opponent.
"Okay, I'll share…" the Fossil Guy whined as he recalled his Voltorb.
"But we don't want any-" Green started when Red brushed past her again.
"Just take one and let's go." That was all the convincing Green needed. She picked up a rock with an interesting helix pattern and caught up with Red.
It wasn't that much longer before Red and Green finally made it out of Mt. Moon. Not a moment too soon. They had gotten out to Route 4 just in time to see the sun set. They set up camp out of the way of the exit and settled down for the night.
"So are you going to keep Zubat in your party?" Green asked while they were eating.
"Not yet," Red answered simply, "I want to build a perfect team that no one can beat. Once I'm Champion, then I'll work on the rest."
Green smiled at his answer. "But to be Champion," she said coyly, "You'll have to go through me first.
Red didn't have an answer for that.
I think I've found a system for this akin to the one I use in I am Darkness. I'm also developing the finer points of the various characters and their motivations. I hope Red's personality is coming through clearly. He does have one.