A/N: The 2nd part of the Mt. Moon Arc! Lots of badassery and violence in this chapter. Took me awhile to do this one since it has a lot of battle scenes and how I wanted Team Rocket to play out, but I hope you all enjoy this one!
Chapter 11: Full Moon Splendor – Part 2
-Somewhere else in the caves-
Domino and the three Rockets stepped through the hole they made. James looked on either side trying to decide where to go.
"So do you think we should go left, or right?"
"I've got something that could help us," Domino replied as she unstrapped her bag and pulled out a small cylinder. She motioned for the four to get on either side of the cavern walls. As she pressed a red button on the remote, a small antenna popped up and started to blink. Domino took out her RocketGear to pull up an app that started spitting out maps of the entire cave structure on that floor.
"Oh, sweet!" James exclaimed, "How'd you get it to do that?"
"Simple sonar technology allows me to read all of the corners and walls of this floor of the cave. We're gonna have to find a way to push up. It tells me here that there is a ladder-like structure a good ways in if we take the left side to the northern portion of the cave."
"Alright, sounds like a plan," Jessie spoke up, "let's get us some moonstones and rare pokemon."
-Back to the main cave-
12:30 AM
The cave surprisingly got wider as the traveling party trekked deeper in. Soon, the cave's radius was 10 feet and Brock was able to stand again.
"Whew…that put a nice kink in my back. Now, where are we in this cave?" Misty pulled out her map.
"Well according to the map, we should be nearing Tracey's Ladder, which will get us to another level in the cave, although we've been having a pretty steep upward climb. I wonder if the mountain's crater is accessible from there, as it is sacred. There was this fork I remember and I was told to always take the left one from the Cerulean side and it met up at Tracey's Ladder on the second level."
"Well, we'll never know until we find out, won't we," Ash chimed in, already walking past the stopped group. The rest sighed as they resumed their walk.
'He's gonna get us lost…' Pikachu muttered.
'Heh, he's your master, not mine,' Jigglypuff snickered.
Since they had entered the cave, Ash and Leaf had run-ins with several pokemon. Leaf was not in a particular mood to catch anything during the evening, so they spent their time training each pokemon. Soon enough, they reached a lone ladder that was perched on a large opening at the top. The ladder itself was around 3 stories high.
"So who's going first? Ladies first?" Brock suggested, giving off a rather weird glint in his eyes…well if one could actually see them. Leaf frowned at the suggestion.
"Nice try, buddy, but if I go before you and you follow and look up, you may not get to the top in one piece."
"Okay, okay…Ash and I will go first, followed by Misty, and then you. Deal?" Leaf nodded. All six travelers eventually made it to the top of the ladder and stared in. There was definitely a fork in the path as Misty said. They looked up to find a tall, domed ceiling filled with crystal-like formations.
"Oooooh, those are pretty," Leaf gleamed.
"Yeah, and expensive," Misty agreed.
"…girls…" both Ash and Brock quietly muttered to themselves. All of a sudden, they heard a strange sound coming from one of the tunnels. Everyone turned their heads forward and Brock and Misty shined the light forward. Soft, quick steps were approaching the room, almost as if it were running. Soon enough, a small pink creature appeared from the left cave. Its facial expression seemed to be one of panic. Leaf took this opportunity to pull Dextra out, despite having fought herself to either live with its unruly behavior or trash it.
"Hey there, Leaf! Long time, no see! Did yah miss me? Of course yah didn't! If yah did, yah would've used me the past few times!" Dextra rudely greeted.
"Well hello to you too, Dextra," Leaf muttered back, "do you know what creature that is in front of us?"
"Why yes I do, but you have to say you miss me and will forever use me."
"…what?"
"C'mon, you want that info, right?"
"This is ridiculous!"
"You must not want that info, hehehe. That's too bad."
"arrrrrrRRRRGHHHH! FINE! I MISS YOU AND WANT TO USE YOU FOREVER! YAH HAPPY NOW, YOU INSOLENT BITCH?!"
"Why, yes. So try to use me more often! I get lonely cooped up in your bag."
"Fine! Will you just please tell me before I throw you on the ground and unleash Brock's Onix on you?"
"Fine, fine. Clefairy: the fairy pokemon. With its magical and cute appeal, it has many admirers. It is rare and found only in certain areas. Its known attacks are Pound, Growl, Encore, and Sing."
"Thank you, asswipe."
"My pleasure, bitch-face."
Leaf slammed her pokedex shut and threw it back into her bag. Ash looked at her rather confused at the rather colorful interaction between her and her pokedex.
"Uh…you know your pokedex is a bit of an ass."
"No shit, Sherlock. You just noticed?!" Leaf retaliated.
"I don't really pay attention to other's things…I really need to change that, don't I…"
Everyone then turned their heads towards the clefairy that had her head tilted by what just went on. Soon, it snapped out of its trance and back into panic mode, which Pikachu stepped forward to listen.
'Okay…I think you can understand me since you're a pokemon, so hear me out. There are these group of bad people that are trying to take my friends! They're also taking the precious stones that we hold sacred!' the clefairy frantically spoke. Pikachu simply nodded and turned to Ash and Jigglypuff, so listened intently.
'So, the clefairy here says her colony is in trouble from poachers, which I imagine is Team Rocket. If it is, we don't know when they got here and when they were able to sneak past us since this is the only known entrance to the mountain, unless that rumble a couple of hours earlier meant anything.' Ash was able to understand only parts of Pikachu's body movement and speech patterns, but from what he could gather, he knew the words "Colony", "Trouble", "Team Rocket". Jigglypuff nodded as well and told that version to Leaf.
"Okay, so here's the situation the way I was told. Hopefully I could get this right since that was a mouthful. There are a colony of clefairy deep in the mountain that are being poached by the Rocket members. I believe that they are after moonstones as well."
"Oh crap!" Brock yelled, "Should we help them?"
"Of course!" Misty yelled, "I feel bad for the clefairy. We should make sure they are able to live in peace!"
"Yeah, I agree. Let's go stop Team Rocket!" Leaf pumped her fist. The clefairy smiled and ran back into the left fork with the group following. They ran into the tunnel for well over a half mile when they started to hear a constant pounding noise. The party slowed to a halt as they fell silent to confirm their suspicions.
"Is that digging I hear?" Leaf asked. The pounding continued and the clefairy ran even deeper into the cavern.
"No time to think about it!" Ash yelled, "Let's move it!"
"Well someone's serious today," Leaf chuckled sarcastically.
"Shut up! I am totally capable of being serious!" They eventually came into another large room. This time, they were not the only ones there. Work lights line the walls of the cavern as a team of 10 men, all dressed in all-black Rocket jumpsuits, picked away at the walls with pick-axes and geodudes. Ash, being Ash, was quick to jump into action.
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?!" he pointed, catching the attention of everyone in the room. They all stopped swinging and turned their heads towards the group. One grunt was wearing a black beret, probably signifying he was the leader. He walked towards the trainer and looked down at him eye-to-eye. He was very tall, at 6'7", and rather well built with arms three times the size of his head. His chest and shoulders were broader than the mountain itself.
"What do you think YOU'RE doing?" he responded in a rather menacing low tone. His stature casted a large shadow over the comparably tiny Ash Ketchum.
'…oh shit…' "W-well, you're trying to steal the moonstones! We're not letting you get away with this!" The overly buff lead grunt smirked and grabbed Ash by the neck with one arm and raised him to eye-level. He was close enough to see individual veins pop out of his forearm as it bulged. Losing air, he started to struggle violently, not helping his case any more than it worsened it.
"Hehehe, it's more like YOU'RE not getting away. You caught onto our secret operations. We can't let you or your friends escape."
"Not…if…we…can…help it…THUNDERSHOCK!" Ash struggled for air, yelling at the last second. Pikachu ran up and released a powerful bolt of electricity at the large grunt. The room lit up like Christmas, causing everyone to shield their eyes. The force of the shock sent both people to opposite sides of the cavern. Dust spewed up everywhere, blinding everyone. Ash and the lead grunt were literally fried, with Ash still gasping for air. Pikachu ran up to his fallen master, visibly concerned with his present state.
'HEY, ASH!' Pikachu shook, 'You okay there? My bad for shocking you as well. It was be shocked or suffocate.' Ash looked up and smiled.
"Don't worry ~cough cough~ buddy. It only stings ~cough cough~ a little. Now, let's get everyone else out here and take care of these guys. Let's go, everyone!" One by one, Bulbasaur, Kakuna, Nidoran, and Zubat came out and stood in from of their master.
"Do you think we should help him?" Misty asked, looking at the trainer in red with a pokeball in hand. Leaf held her back and shook her head.
"If there's one thing you need to know about that klutz of a pervert, is that when he makes a challenge, it's his fight alone; you'll only get in the way and break his concentration."
The lead grunt sat up and took out his pokeball to reveal a geodude. All of the other geodudes followed suit while some had zubats and ekans. Their masters stood ready for orders.
"So, this is what we'll do. Geodude, rock throw." The geodude next to the leader dug up a boulder and launched it towards the Ash, only to curve towards the group. Ash saw the trajectory at which the boulder was following and knew it was going towards Leaf and Misty. He would not be able to get there in time.
"LEAF, MISTY! LOOK OUT!" The two girls looked to their right and saw a rogue boulder headed in their direction.
"SHIT!" the both yelled as they ducked for cover, the boulder smashing into hundreds of pieces right behind them. Brock, luckily, dodged away from the blast. The two girls, however, were buried beneath the rubble.
"Heh, didn't mean to hit them, but that takes care of those two. You two, go tie them up."
"Not so fast," Ash suddenly spoke, his tone of voice having got lower and very dark, almost growling. His eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at both Leaf and Misty unconscious in the rubble. He then turned towards the leader with the most menacing glare anyone has seen. Brock swore he saw Ash's eyes flash red.
"You dare hurt my friends, and go so far as to take their life? I'll make sure you'll never walk again." Pikachu's cheeks emitted countless sparks. Jigglypuff joined the enraged mouse and the now enraged party with her fists cocked. Brock stood up and stood next to Ash, releasing his geodude and onix, whose body stretched down the length of the tunnel behind them.
"I usually don't like to resort to violence, but when you disregard another person's life in trade of one, we'll strike back with even greater force." Jigglypuff turned around and then did something totally unexpected.
'Hey, guys; are you awake? Let's avenge our masters!' she cried. All of the pokeballs lit up from the rubble and took form behind the pink balloon, glaring at the leader. Among the group were two new pokemon, both being star-shaped with a pink gem in the middle. The leader, finally feeling the vibe of intimidation. Sweat started to pour from his head, although no one really noticed. Still, he stood apparently calm and collected. Suddenly, there was movement from the rubble. Slowly, two dirtied teenage girls stood from the rubble. They were visibly fuming.
"My, my…dirty move you pulled there," the redhead spat.
"You fucking soiled my favorite dress…" the brunette growled. The leader's collected façade started to break. His eyes slowly dilated and the pupils started to compress.
"MEN! ATTACK!" The group of enemy pokemon charged the line. Pikachu and company went straight to work, with their trainers providing them guidance.
Naturally, Pikachu and Jigglypuff teamed up, knowing that electric was useless against ground-types and they have worked together for so long. They charged forward knocking out geodudes left and right as well as Pikachu zapping the occasional zubat. Squirtle and Bulbasaur handled a small group of geodude by combining their signature moves, making into a watery torrent of leaves, effectively knocking out that group. Kakuna and Metapod, as well as the two Nidoran, backed each other up and dealt with another group of geodude and zubat. Geodude, the two star pokemon, and Zubat rushed the remaining enemy pokemon, the two stars releasing pulses of water first while Geodude charged and Zubat dove. Onix held up the end of the cave to make sure no one escaped, with the clefairy that was with them sitting with him. This went on for another 5 minutes before the dust cleared and the water dried up. The scene that laid before the trainers was short of amazing. The group of grunts were completely knocked out, including the leader who was sprawled out on the ground. A new pokemon stood where Kakuna used to be in a form of a giant hornet with giant twin needles on the top pair of its legs, as well as another new pokemon that stood where Metapod was supposed to be.
"Whoa…what pokemon is that? And where's Kakuna?" Ash gawked in surprise. Brock stifled a small laugh.
"The thing is that new pokemon is your Kakuna; it's just now in its evolved form after that fight."
"Ooooo…and Leaf! There's a butterfly looking pokemon where Metapod used to be!"
"Ooooo!" Leaf followed up.
"Yo, Dexter! Hit me up with info, bro!"
"Beedrill, the poison bee pokemon. May appear in a swarm. Flies at violent speeds, all the while stabbing with the toxic stinger on its forelegs and rear."
"Hey! What about my new pokemon?"
"Well, why don't you use Dextra; she's more than willing to tell you…" Ash chuckled.
"Oh, bite me! Okay, Dextra; what do you got on the butterfly that's supposed to be my pokemon…"
"Well, don't say it like that! You gotta have more enthusiasm about this! C'mon, throw some pizazz into it, sista!"
"I swear I would throw you to the ground and stomp on you 'til you're not remotely recognizable. I won't because I actually need you. Just do your damn job, please, for the love of fucking god…."
"Okay, okay. Butterfree, the butterfly pokemon. The wings are protected by a rain-repellent dust. As a result, this Pokémon can fly about even in rain. In battle, it flaps its wings at great speed to release highly toxic dust into the air."
"Awwww, it's sooo adorable!" Misty squealed, "wait…what were they before?"
"Kakuna and Metapod?" Ash answered confused at the question. Misty's face regressed into that of fear, disgust, and tormet.
"You mean like…b-b-bugs."
"Uh, yeah…"
"EWWW! GROSS! BLECHHH!"
"But they're already in full form."
"Your beedrill still scares the shit out of me." Beedrill made a rather cute whimpering sound.
"Awww, it's okay, Beedrill," Ash comforted, "she doesn't mean to hate you. She just doesn't realize how awesome you look." Beedrill stopped whimpering and happily flew about. Just as he touched down, they noticed movement at the other end of the room, namely a cat pokemon, a magenta-haired woman, a violet-haired man, and a blonde woman in a beret and a black cat-suit.
"Hey," Leaf said as she looked over at the other end of the room, "isn't that Team Rocket?"
"Yeah…that does look like them. What are they doing here?" Ash wondered. Leaf sighed again.
"You know the entire organization is called 'Team Rocket', right? Why else would they be here?"
"Hey! They could be doing something else while these guys are hunting for moonstones."
"You're on their side now?"
"NO! Just stating all of the possibilities here!"
"Hey! If you two care to come back to reality sometime tonight, they are currently running deeper into the cave," Brock loudly cut in, effectively stopping the rather pointless argument. The seven called quickly called their pokemon back and ran full speed deeper into the cave as fast as they could. Soon, they saw natural light at the opening ahead.
-Moonlight Crater, Mt. Moon-
"Okay, dat's gotta be the biggest stone I've eva seen in my life," Meowth gazed as he looked up at the giant meteor upon a massive pile of smaller stones. Each face glistened in the moonlight, shining brightly all around the crater. The stone was surrounded on all sides by a group of clefairy and another similar looking pokemon.
"My, my…I hear these pokemon are quite rare and valuable. Why don't we round up the entire group for the Boss," Jessie proposed, positioning the sack in front of her.
"Alright, let's get to business. First the pokemon, then the moonstones," James followed up readying his pokemon and gas mask, the others following suit, "Weezing, smoke this place out!" Weezing flew out of his ball and engulfed the entire crater with smoke. Soon, all of the pokemon collapsed under the poisonous, purple smoke.
"Good work, James," Domino called out from behind, "Jessie, you and Meowth are up." The two took their sacks and started stuffing the unconscious pokemon into the bags, not going unnoticed by the group of trainers waiting at the opening of one of the tunnels.
"We're too late…" Ash muttered looking down at the purple cloud.
"There's no way we're gonna get down there without suffocating," Misty concluded after considering all of the options they had, which was not a lot to begin with.
"How are we going to save them?" Leaf wondered.
"We know one thing: we need to defeat Team Rocket, and fast," Brock ended, gearing up his pokemon. The others nodded in agreement and followed suit.
"Pidgey, gust attack to clear the smoke!" a voice shouted from a top the crater." Everyone, including Team Rocket, looked up at the source. Perched on the ledge sat a rather irritated Gary Oak.
"Heh, I should've expected much. I guess you didn't learn from the ass-kicking we gave you in Pewter. It looks like we're gonna have to teach you again. Ready for remedial classes?"
"To hell with you!" Jessie screamed at the top of her lungs, "We won't fail this time! Just you wait and see what we're capable of now!"
"Heh, no thanks. I don't have time for little ass shits like you three, and the blonde bitch in the slut-suit and the stupid hat included. Yeah, don't think I didn't notice you, bitch. You must be one of the higher ups of Rocket. But what do I care; I don't give a shit about your organization anyways and frankly, battling you would be a waste of time." Domino's usual soft smile soured rapidly into a sharp frown. This was one of Gary's specialties: provoking.
"You dare slander my very authority, our team, and the very name of Rocket, itself? Well, listen up, maggot, I will pound you so hard, your ancestors 100 times removed will feel it!"
"I just said I have no interest in battling you. Don't you people ever listen? It's probably why you didn't learn from your mistakes a couple days ago. Anyhow, this show's a bore. I'm leaving Team Rocket in your care, Ash."
"Hey! What's your point in coming here?!"
"Oh me? Why did I come here? No, I don't have an interest in battling you. I do, however, have an interest in when innocent pokemon are being senselessly targeted hurt, mentally and physically, for no good reason. That's where these guys come in," he pointed towards Ash and company, "who will kick your ass so hard to hell and back that Unova will feel the quake!" He quickly made his exit over the ledge and into the night.
"Damn it! He's running away and my entire team is incapacitated."
Ash smiled at the spot Gary was standing right before he made his stealthy exit.
"Hmph. So Gary can be a good guy when he needs to be."
"Yeah," Leaf nodded, "always showing up in the most unsuspecting places to help us out."
"Now…where were we? Oh, yeah! Prepare to get your asses handed to yah! We aren't letting you take those pokemon and the moonstones!" Ash boldly declared as he and Pikachu stepped forward.
"No way we're gonna lose to fucking brats like you!" Jessie yelled, "Go Ekans!" The purple snake leaped out of its ball and hurled itself towards Pikachu.
"Poison Sting!" Pikachu simply stepped aside and sped up to running speed.
"You know what to do, buddy. Quick attack!"
"Koffing! Poison Gas!" The entire crater filled with the noxious purple gas once again, this time without anyone wearing masks. A mass of coughing can be heard.
"Damn it, James!" Jessie yelled again.
"Sorry! I didn't know what to do!"
"Ekans could've side-stepped it, you idiot!"
"I'M SORRYY!" Domino could also be heard coughing. Pikachu was down for the count, running in the opposite direction. Luckily, it was towards Ash.
"Alright ~cough cough~! Beedrill! Can you ~cough~ somehow clear the ~cough~ smoke with your ~cough~ wings?"
"You too ~cough cough~, Butterfree!"
"Staryu! Go!"
Beedrill and Butterfree flapped its wings as hard as they could, revealing a bronze star-shaped pokemon with a pink gem at the center.
"Water Pulse!" Jets of water streamed out from the center, knocking Ekans back a few meters.
"Beedrill! Show me what you can do with your front stingers!" He started stabbing thin air with both of his stingers at a very fast rate. "Alright. That should work. It may not be perfect, but it's the only chance we got. Let's do this!" The triple-stinger bee flew straight to the purple balloon and literally gave it hell. Koffing was not fast enough to dodge a single strike of the stingers.
Ekans, thinking it was not down for the count, went for a poison sting at Beedrill. Still not fast enough on its wings, he got hit with multiple pins, only bringing him to the ground temporarily. Beedrill continued to battle Ekans using its deadly twin stingers.
Staryu was at work with Koffing, using itself as a boomerang. Several managed to land hits on the balloon, while it managed to land several hits on the star. Soon, both pokemon were well worn down. Leaf had an idea on how to remedy the situation.
"Alright, Butterfree. Can your antennas do anything?" Butterfree nodded. "So what can it do?" The butterfly stared down towards the snake and concentrated really hard. Soon, Ekans stopped its attacks and wore a blank stare.
"What the fuck?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, YOU STUPID SNAKE?!" Jessie screamed at the top of her lungs. The message still did not get through to the now confused snake. "ATTACK THAT FUCKING BEE!" Ekans was still even more confused and started attacking…Koffing. Sure enough, it was enough to bring down the poisonous balloon.
"Staryu, bring down the snake while it's confused!"
"Oh no, you ain't!" Meowth yelled, "Time for a payday, bitch!" The cat generated some coins to throw at the star, only to hit a rock…or a live rock…or a geodude.
"What the…"
"Geodude, tackle that son of a bitch."
"HEY! I AIN'T NO –" He was quickly silenced as the small boulder knocked him several meters back. He skidded to a halt, hitting the wall of the crater.
"You two," Domino called out to the two human Rockets, "help me gather the pokemon into the helicopter. I paged it to hover overhead."
"Roger."
"Oh, no you don't!" Ash yelled, "Everyone! Use your pokemon to defend the fallen pokemon!" Each pokemon from Ash, Misty, and Brock who were not fighting popped out of their balls and ran to the other end of the crater where they found a group of unconscious fairy pokemon. The clefairy that was with them looked on in panic.
'Alright! I may be poisoned, but that won't hurt me anymore than it'll slow me down just a bit! Let's do two to three of us for 5 pokemon down. We'll stop Team Rocket from taking them. You know what attacks to use. I'll leave them for you to improvise,' Pikachu commanded. The group split into 6 groups, each of them growling at Team Rocket.
"Ummm…Domino. How are we supposed to take the fairies when there are ridiculously strong pokemon surrounding them?"
"Here, this is a shockwave grenade, only good for one use. That'll disperse them. Of course, lay down while you use it. What happened to all of your gear anyways? Didn't you guys have a tone of these?"
"Well, uh…they were lost with the balloon…" James meekly confessed. Domino facepalmed herself.
"And you guys were supposed to be one of the best agents we have…oh well. Just use it."
"Well, here goes nothing…" James pulled the pin and tossed it high towards the group of pokemon.
'What the…' all of the pokemon wondered as the grenade fell closer to the group. Team Rocket planted themselves face-first into the ground. In mid-air, a giant shockwave threw all of the pokemon and humans in all directions. Immediately after, a white light filled the area, blinding everyone in sight. What they didn't notice was movement from the cat towards the pile of moonstones.
"Is everyone alive?" Brock shouted from below. He seemed to be the one on the bottom.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Is everyone else okay?" Ash yelled. He looked down and saw on either side of his vision was each side of a pair of really short-jeans.
'Oh fuck…'
Misty's first vision upon the clearing of the dust cloud was in between a pair of dark jeans. Whoever was on top of her was thrown 2 yards away.
"Damn it, Ash! Can't you fall NOT touching an embarrassing place for once?" He blushed heavily for some reason.
"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to!" Ash whimpered.
Leaf really wanted to cut that conversation short for some reason or another.
"Hey, where's Jigglypuff? Jiggly?" she called, hoping to find her balloon-y best friend. She searched around the dusty cavern, completely missing a taller, less balloon-y like creature running towards her. She felt something tugging at her dress and a call she was not familiar with.
"Wiggly?"
'What the…I've never heard that one before. Wait, shouldn't that be a 'Jiggly'?' She looked down to her right and saw a pink-blob with a large white center and long ears. It almost looked like an evolved Jigglypuff.
'Wait a second…could this be the evolved form of Jigglypuff? It seems like this pokemon knows me. That could be the case…'
"Dextra, whatcha got for me?"
"Well, here's the thing. In the blast, Jigglypuff fell on a moonstone which caused her to evolve into Wigglytuff. Now Wigglytuff is also a balloon pokemon, just fancier-looking. Her fur is extremely fine, dense, and supple. The exquisitely pleasant fur conveys an image of luxury. When angered, she will suck in air and inflate itself to an enormous size, much like your Jigglypuff did."
"Ahhh…that strangely makes sense." She looked down to Wigglytuff. "Hey, Wigglytuff! How does it feel to be in your new body?"
'Oooo…I feel a bit heavier, and the floor is a bit further from here. I feel stronger and faster, too. And I think I can swell up even more than before! Oh, and the new fur is nice.'
"Well, that's good. Now let's secure the pokemon!" The rest of the pokemon got back up and started walking each of the pokemon to the side of the trainers. Eventually, all of the pokemon were cleared of the battle zone. Domino, pulling herself back up, looked around to find all of the pokemon gone.
"DAMN IT!" She turned towards the trainers, who stood protectively in front of the pokemon. She did not carry a pokemon on her this time, so there was no way she could fight the party herself. Her team of Rockets was entirely incapacitated, leaving her pokemon-less. She turned back towards the fallen Rockets.
'Looks like I'll have to make an escape with the other three. The other Rockets I brought can find their way back.' "You three. Get up. We're pulling out. These guys are a lot tougher than I thought." She pulled another grenade out of her utility belt and turned back towards the trainers. She signaled the helicopter to descend into the crater. She and the trio grabbed onto the ladder as it pulled back up.
"You guys are tough, I'll admit that, but this won't be the last time we see each other. We'll find you and crush you."
"Yeah, and we'll make sure to curb-stomp you again once you do," Ash confidently replied.
"Oh but before we go, a parting gift, courteous of the Rocket Corporation." She pulled the pin and launched it down towards the trainers, once again exploding in mid-air. A loud boom could be heard throughout the entire mountain with the shockwave throwing everyone and everything in all directions. The helicopter shook a bit as Meowth was attempting to hold onto dear life, along with the bag of moonstones they gathered while everyone was unconscious. Ash and Leaf splattered into the crater walls. Brock was thrown and tumbled across the crater to the other side. Misty was thrown at the pile of moonstones, nearly cracking her head open on the giant moonstone. The pokemon where thrown in every direction possible, some landing on top of one another. The helicopter all but disappeared over the top of the crater.
Once the dust settled, Leaf found herself buried in Ash's chest, clinging to one another for dear life. They were buried in an imprint of themselves in the crater wall.
"Hey," Ash called softly, "are you okay?"
"Yeah," Leaf answered, "you know, this is the most comfortable position I want to be in." They both blushed, not letting go of each other. She noticed Ash was bleeding when she looked at one of her hands. At the other side, Brock found Misty strewn about the pile of stones, bleeding from multiple points.
"God damn, Misty! Are you alright?" Misty was unresponsive. He gently shook her while calling her name. She remained unresponsive.
"Shit…ASH! NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" Ash, noticing a strong panic in Brock's voice, threw himself and Leaf up and started running, trying to ignore the excruciating pain running down his entire back. Leaf trailed behind him as they approached a kneeling Brock and an unconscious Misty.
"HOLY FUCK!" Ash yelled looking Misty. Brock took a hard look at Ash's back and noticed blood dripping from his jacket, and a dark spot forming down his entire backside.
"HOLY SHIT, DUDE!" Brock yelled, "You're bleeding like hell, too!" Ash finally tried to feel his back and noticed the large wet spot. He touched harder and pain erupted.
"GAAAAAAAAHHHH FUUUUUUUUUCKING AAAAAAAAAAA!"
He yelled so loud, it jolted Misty awake.
"What the…" she muttered, helping herself up. She noticed Ash screaming in pain, Leaf looking worryingly at Ash, and Brock looking worryingly at her. She lifted her hands and noticed something red dripping from her arm. Soon, all feelings reregistered with her brain.
"GOD DAMMIT EVERYTHING HURTS LIKE HELL!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Okay, okay!" Brock tried to calm the two down, "we need to get you out of these clothes. Leaf, you take off Ash's vest and shirt while I'll have to undress Misty. Leaf, do you know first aid?"
"I know basic first aid. I was in the Girl Scouts for a little while. Do you have a first aid kit?"
"I have a large one with enough bandages to cover most of everyone here." He took his first aid kit out of his bag and expanded it to its full size. It was a rather large toolbox of medical items.
"Hold on, hold on!" Misty yelled, "Why don't you undress Ash and Leaf undresses me!"
"It's just…less awkward if you do that with the opposite sex!"
"HOW IS THAT LESS AWKWARD?!"
"JUST TRUST ME, DAMN IT! GUYS USUALLY DON'T UNDRESS OTHER GUYS! DO YOU WANT TO GET TREATED OR NOT?!"
"FINE! Just make it quick. Don't look, okay!"
"Okay, okay. I may be overly and creepily romantic, but I'm definitely not a pervert, geez…" Brock sighed in exasperation. This girl was really tough to deal with when agitated. She turned around and Brock slowly undid Misty's suspenders, one by one. Amazingly, her short jeans still held on.
"Okay, I need you to slowly remove your shorts."
"WHAT GOOD IS THAT GOING TO DO?!"
"I NEED TO PATCH UP THE WOUNDS ON YOUR HIPS, GOD DAMMIT! DO YOU WANT ME TO HELP YOU, OR NOT?!"
Misty growled at him and slowly removed her shorts. Sure enough, it was rather painful to do so. She noticed bleeding down her lower right hip joint and winced. Brock then slowly removed her top to reveal a plethora of scratches, cuts, and bruises litters upon her back. He glanced up at her head and noticed profuse bleeding at the back.
'God dammit, there's no reception here in the mountain, so we can't call life flight…damn it we're just gonna have to walk to Cerulean and hope for the best.' He then bandaged her up, which she now looked like a half of a mummy.
At the same time, Leaf was working on Ash's injuries, slowly removing his vest.
"Hey Ash," Leaf started.
"Ummm, yeah?"
"Do you have any injuries to your legs?"
"Uh, no?"
"Okay, just making sure I don't have to remove your jeans or anything." She continued to take off his black shirt, revealing his rock-hard chest and chiseled abs. Leaf was only looking at his backside, noting all of the scratches, cuts, and bruises that were heavily bleeding. Misty, having finished being bandaged, glanced at Ash's direction towards his front side. She blushed at the sight of his manly features.
'So THIS is what a trainer should look like…' she thought to herself, 'he's also a gentlemen and really protective of those he cares about, even though he just met me. His love of pokemon amazes me, almost treating every one of them like they were his kids…wait, what am I thinking?!'
By the time she snapped out of her dreamland, Ash was completely bandaged from the chest to his torso and changed into his white shirt, which he sometimes used for sleepwear.
"Hey, Misty. Do you have a change of clothes you can wear?"
"Yeah, let me pull it out." She reached into her back and pulled out another yellow shirt and another pair of short jeans and quickly putting them on, despite the pain.
"Okay, guys. There is no way we can get medical help right now, so we'll have to help each other get to the mouth of the cave on the eastern side. It may hurt right now, but you'll have to bear it 'til we can get some help. If we're lucky, it'll heal by the end of the night since Ash's wounds weren't as bad as I thought and Misty's is only a tad bit worse. We'll set up camp at the mouth of the cave. Can you lead us there, Misty?"
"Yeah, we need to find the other cave that leads us out. I know the one behind us is the one we came in, so it's maybe the one 50 feet to the left of Ash and Leaf's imprint."
"Alright. Let's go, guys!" Ash yelled, effectively calling all of the pokemon back to its trainers. He looked back at the pokemon they protected and finally noticed that some looked different from the other. They all stared at him in appreciation of his heroic stand against the thieves.
"Hold on, guys. I want to know what that pokemon is. I know what clefairy is, but what about the other one. Dexter?"
"Clefable: the fairy pokemon. A timid Pokémon that is rarely seen, it will run and hide the moment it senses people. Its known moves are Sing, Doubleslap, Mesmerize, and Metronome."
The clefairy and clefable cheered for Ash and the rest of the team. The clefairy that they found before the battle ran up and latched on to Leaf with no intent of letting go.
"Oh? You want to come with?" Leaf asked the clefairy. She nodded excitedly and looked back at the other members of her clan. They all nodded with the clefable walking forward giving her the okay.
"Alright, get in the ball, then! Pokeball, go!" Leaf shouted as Clefairy jumped up and absorbed into the ball. The ball was secured successfully with little to no effort.
"Alright! Bye, guys! We'll see you guys around someday!" Ash yelled back. They all yelled back as well, waving their little hands in the air. Ash looked at the Giant Moonstone one last time and noticed a section of the moonstone pile missing.
'Shit…they got away…' Ash growled to himself. Leaf noticed he was growling.
"Hey, are you okay? Does it hurt?"
"No. Team Rocket got away with a lot of moonstones while we were unconscious. Damn it."
"There's nothing we can do about it now. Let's just keep moving forward."
-Mt. Moon, East Entrance – 4:00 AM–
They found the mouth of the cave and the open to a starry night sky. They were simply amazed that the tunnels within the mountain had held up with the constant grenade blasts.
"YES! WE'RE FINALLY OUT OF THER-MMMMPH!" Ash yelled with Misty finally covering his mouth.
"Geez, you would realize that there are people sleeping out here."
"…sorry…"
"Okay, we're going to set up camp here outside. There's a nice patch of flat grassland over there, so let's get over there and roll out the bags." They crossed the forest and hit the open patch of grassland. They rolled out their sleeping bags and immediately passed out, Ash and Misty dismissing any pain from the wounds they gained. Overall, it was one wild night for our heroes who definitely earned a well-deserved rest.
-Pewter City Gym, Pewter City – Earlier Yesterday Afternoon-
A fierce battle had just ended between a ratatta and an onix. The onix was knocked out with the ratatta standing tall, although rather battered and bruised.
"Wow, I've never seen anyone battle like you do. You didn't even utter a single word!" Flint exclaimed to a young girl with a long, blonde ponytail, a yellow dress reminiscent of traditional rural wear covered the black long-sleeve shirt she was wearing underneath with her tightly-fit jeans, and a straw hat.
"It was a pleasure battling you as well, although I don't really like battling… I hope we meet again!" She turned around towards the exit to head back to the pokemon center.
"By the way, if you run into a tall, dark young man with squinty eyes like mine, could you tell him his father and mother says hi for me? His name is Brock."
"Will do! I'll see you around!"
"See yah, Amber!" With that, she walked into the light, to wherever she would be headed…
A/N: Yup, Amber is quickly catching up to the rest of the group, Team Rocket got away with moonstones, Ash and Misty are still injured, Kakuna, Metapod, and Jigglypuff evolved, and Leaf is a new owner of a Clefairy. The next chapter should be out in a month or so. I want to divide time evenly into my other fic in my other fandom, as well as solidify the premise for the third fic I'm going to be releasing for the third fandom I'm a part of. As always, read, love, review! :)