Author's Note: We would like to wish a Happy Canada Day to all of our Canadian readers! Have fun celebrating today and enjoy the story!
Jason and I walked along Route 4 and finally we came to the entrance of Mt. Moon.
"Wow. From Pewter City, it seems so different. Up close…" Jason trailed looking up at the mountain.
Yes, Mt. Moon you can see clearly from Pewter City; that's how tall it is. Mt. Moon is named after the Moon Stone since that's where many Moon Stones are, along with a rare kind of Pokemon named Clefairy. Fossils can be dug up there too…or so I've been told. Climbing Mt. Moon doesn't seem possible, so travellers go through the caves to get to the other side.
"Well, I think we've spent enough time looking at Mt. Moon. How about we actually explore it?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I agree." Jason said.
We entered the cave that was at the entrance to the inside of Mt. Moon. Jason let out Charmander to light the way for us. As we walked, I spotted Zubats, Paras, and Geodudes. So far, we hadn't seen a single Clefairy. I knew they were shy and didn't like to be seen by people, but still.
"Where would they be?" Jason asked as we continued.
"I don't know. They just don't want to show themselves to us." I said.
Mt. Moon was so big. All these caves were starting to irk my nerves. I wanted out, but we still had a while to go…plus, Mt. Moon had little light for us to see so that bugged me too. Charmander's flame only illuminated a few feet ahead of us.
Walking in silence, I suddenly saw a flash of pink from the corner of my eye. Stopping and looking where I thought I saw the pink. Standing there was a Clefairy.
"Awesome! The first Clefairy." I exclaimed.
"Clef! Clefairy!"
I took out my Pokedex and aimed it at the Clefairy, recording its data. "The friendly and peaceful Clefairy is admired by many for its magical powers. Its special Metronome technique allows it to attack in many different ways. Some believe the Clefairy have formed their own society in Mt. Moon where they 'pray' to the Moon Stone. According to legends, this stone fell from the moon hundreds of years ago." said the mechanical voice of the Pokedex.
"We should get going." Jason said after looking at the Clefairy for a few more minutes.
"Wait, shouldn't we catch it? It's a rare Pokemon."
"I think just seeing one is enough of a reward for me. Besides it looks too cute to use in a battle."
"Maybe a coordinator could use it in a battle. Anyway, you're right. Let's move on."
Mt. Moon was a lot more complicated to travel through than I thought it would be. I think Jason thought the same thing since he was looking a little annoyed.
"How about we take a break?" I asked, since we had been walking for a while.
Jason just nodded and sat down where he was just standing.
I looked through my backpack for a flashlight, but found none.
"Packed everything but a flashlight." I muttered. "You have a flashlight?"
Jason dug through his bag.
"No, no flashlight. Well Charmander, do you mind walking with us to provide some more light?" he asked.
"Char!"
"I can call-" I started.
"Don't call out your Charmander. Too much light will upset the Zubats."
I nodded and slung my bag over my back.
We continued through the caves, twisting and turning. Sometimes we had to backtrack, since we hit dead ends.
After a while, I heard some voices echoing off the walls of the cave.
"Did you hear that?" I asked, stopping to listen.
Jason was about to answer with "No", but stopped and nodded his head after hearing the voices, too.
"Charmander, return." Jason said, ever-cautiously. He worried that the light would give us away. "Think we should check it out?"
"What do you think?" I asked sarcastically. What can I say? I have my dad's love of adventure and curiosity.
Jason sighed and followed me. We crept along the wall keeping to the shadows so the people wouldn't see us.
"Why are we stuck looking for stupid stones?" one of the voices asked, annoyance clear in his voice.
"Just shut up and keep looking!" another voice snapped irritably. This voice belonged to a girl.
I stopped and Jason bumped into me.
"Dude!" I cried quietly.
"Sorry. It's dark and I can't see that well." Jason muttered.
I just nodded my head.
"Grunt 076 and Grunt 080 have you found any Moon Stones yet?" a voice asked.
The voice that just spoke sounded static like which means it was from a radio device.
"No. No Moon Stones have been found."
"Ugh! You two are useless! Keep looking and if any trouble appears…deal with it."
"Yes, sir!"
I edged closer to the corner and poked my head around to see who was in this cave looking for Moon Stones. Two people were there. One was a guy and the other was a woman and they were holding flashlights looking for Moon Stones, as I had just heard.
"It's Team Rocket." I whispered.
"Team Rocket? It can't be." Jason replied.
"They have white uniforms which means they're low-ranking grunts with a red R on their shirts."
"Two low-ranking grunts? We can take them."
"Yeah, I know we can. I just don't get something."
"Get what?"
"Team Rocket disbanded ten years ago. I don't get how they can be a group again. It doesn't make sense." My dad had just become a Pokemon Master back then and he rallied the Elite Four from each region, along with their regional champions, and they defeated Team Rocket once and for all, and destroyed their headquarters. I didn't understand how they were back again.
Jason was quiet for a good while and that worried me. Jason was never quiet unless he was asleep or upset.
"Do..." he trailed, seeming to be unsure of what he was about to say.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Do you think Team Rocket has anything to do with...with what happened to your dad?"
I looked at Pikachu and it seemed like the sadness lingered in his eyes.
"I don't know. How about we get these grunts out of the way? Maybe they'll spill everything they know if we beat them." I asked. Whenever something bad happened in the past in Kanto, Team Rocket were usually always the culprits, so it made sense to me that they were probably the ones responsible for dad's disappearance.
"Let's do it." Jason said confidently.
We walked around the corner quietly and the two grunts still hadn't noticed us.
"This is so lame. We're here looking for Moon Stones while the others are at base." The man whined.
"Will you just shut up? Arceus, you are annoying!" the woman cried and turned around. As she turned around, her flashlight caught us.
"Stop looking around! We got some punks to take care of." she said to her partner in crime.
The man turned around and looked at us.
The grunts seemed similar to each other; must be brother and sister. They both had blonde hair, brown eyes, and they were slightly tan.
"Let's take care of these little punks." The woman said, lowering her hand to her waist.
The man whispered something into her ear and she nodded.
"Hate to cut the meeting short, but we gotta run!" she cried as the two ran off.
Jason and I ran after the duo.
"Great…just great." Jason said sarcastically. "They're leading us right to the top grunts."
Standing in front of the lower ranks were two guys who looked like they could easily break us in half if they wanted. They were wearing black uniforms.
"You two ruined the search and discovered what we were doing here." the shorter one said.
"Now you pay for it." said the taller one, enlarging a Pokeball.
"Arbok, go!" the shorted one cried, tossing a Pokeball.
"Arbok!" Arbok cried.
"Go, Wartortle!" the taller one cried as he tossed the Pokeball.
"War! Wartortle!" Wartortle cried.
Jason enlarged a Pokeball.
"Charmander, go!" Jason cried, tossing the Pokeball.
"Char! Charmander!" Charmander cried.
I didn't know what else these Grunts could do, so I needed to use Pikachu. He was familiar with Team Rocket's ways.
"Pikachu, let's show 'em." I said.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried leaping off my shoulder. He seemed extra angry at Team Rocket, since he had so many run-ins with them in the past.
"Arbok, Poison Sting!"
"Wartortle, Water Gun on Charmander!"
"Pikachu, cancel that Water Gun out! Use Thunderbolt on it!" I cried.
"Charmander, Flamethrower!" Jason cried seeing the technique I had used.
The Thunderbolt wrapped around the Water Gun and shocked Wartortle. The Flamethrower burned through the Poison Sting.
The grunts were getting frustrated at us; I could tell by the looks on their faces.
The battle continued on and after some minutes had passed, Arbok and Wartortle had landed one, maybe two moves while Pikachu and Charmander landed most if not all their moves. I couldn't believe how well we were doing in our first battle against Team Rocket!
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"
"Charmander, Metal Claw!"
"Dodge!" the two grunts cried.
Arbok and Wartortle dodged successfully, jumping right over our Pokemon and facing Jason and I directly.
"Were getting beaten down. We'll have to go to our last resort! Arbok, Poison Sting right at those kids!"
"Wartortle, Hydro Pump on them, too!"
The attacks were going to hit us head on since Pikachu and Charmander were behind Arbok and Wartortle. We had no way to defend ourselves from the oncoming attacks. Was our first battle with Team Rocket also going to be our last?
Mysterious Person's POV
I followed the two boys into Mt. Moon, listening to their conversations. I made sure to keep my distant or else I would be noticed.
After following them for a while, I heard the voices from deeper into the cave. Sneaking off into another tunnel, I headed towards the voices.
"Team Rocket grunts? Here?" I asked myself.
I stayed in the shadows and waited; knowing that the two kids would be here soon. I heard footsteps running towards where I was and I stepped farther back so that the shadows were covering me more.
"Great… just great. They lead us right to the top grunts." the brown-haired boy said sarcastically.
Standing in front of the lower-ranks were two higher-ranked grunts.
"You two ruined the search." The shorter one said.
"Now you pay for it." The taller one said, enlarging a Pokeball.
A battle began as the kids and the grunts released their Pokemon. The kids were beating these grunts without any effort. I had to admit, I was surprised. They seemed like they could handle themselves. Perhaps I could make this work to my advantage.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"
"Charmander, Metal Claw!"
"Dodge!" the two grunts cried.
Arbok and Wartortle dodged successfully.
"Were getting beaten down. We'll have to go to our last resort! Arbok, Poison Sting right at those kids!"
"Wartortle, Hydro Pump on them, too!"
The attacks were going to hit the kids head on since Pikachu and Charmander were behind Arbok and Wartortle.
"Flamethrower." I ordered my Pokemon, standing beside me.
The Flamethrower shot out from the shadows and blocked the attack from hitting the kids. They glanced my way and looked at me; but I knew that they only saw the faint features of me from the glow of the Flamethrower. I ran off right as the Flamethrower ended. I couldn't let anyone know about me just yet.
Adam's POV
Jason and I had closed our eyes, but the attack never came. Instead, I felt a heat wave. I opened my eyes and saw a Flamethrower coming from another route. I nudged Jason and he opened his eyes and saw the Flamethrower.
"Look over there." I said pointing to the Flamethrower.
I saw a figure, but couldn't even make out one feature since the darkness of where they were hid the person and their Pokemon.
"How did that happen?" the girl cried.
"This isn't right!" the guy cried to the higher grunts.
"Shut up!" the three yelled to the whining grunt.
"You two win this time." The four grunts said, and then ran off. Rats, I wanted to get them to talk.
"Let's see if we can find anything about what they were doing." Jason said as he approached the area where the grunts had been searching.
I just nodded and looked along the walls where the wall had been disturbed. I saw only dirt clumps.
"Did you find anything over there?" I asked, standing back up.
"No, only two papers. One paper has a drawing of a stone on it. The other has numbers and letters on it. The stone is a Moon Stone if I'm not mistaken." Jason answered.
I walked over to where he was searching and looked at the papers.
"Those are Moon Stones. What would Team Rocket want with that? I have no idea what that other paper could be." I said, glancing at the papers again.
Jason folded the papers up and put them in an inside pocket in his jacket.
"Well, how about we get out of Mt. Moon now?" I asked. I was a little anxious to get out of these caves.
"Yeah, maybe along the way, we'll find some more dropped information from the grunts." Jason replied.
"Yeah, maybe. I can't believe we almost got hit by those attacks."
"I know, I can't either. That was kind of scary."
"Kind of? We could've died! I wonder who stopped the attack and saved us?"
"Maybe it was just a traveler and saw we were in trouble."
"Maybe…"
We walked along through the cave. It was getting brighter and brighter as we walked.
"There's the exit!" I cried happily and took off running.
"Yes!" Jason cried.
I waited on the path for Jason. He ran up beside me, catching his breath.
"Well, the next stop is Cerulean City now, right?" he asked.
"Yep. Time to challenge the gym leader and get our second badge!" I cried enthused. As a full-time gym leader, Misty didn't have very much free time to come and visit us in Pallet Town.
We started walking down the path and I spotted a sign. Sure, the sign was like any other, but what caught my attention was what was written on it. I walked over to the sign and looked at it.
"Jason come look at this!" I cried.
Jason walked over to where I was and looked at the sign. It was a simple sign that pointed out the path to Cerulean City, but someone had scribbled a note on the bottom corner.
"I can't believe that's still here." Jason said, shocked.
"My dad told me about this." I said.
"Mine, too. It was years ago."
Written in red, but faded over the years was, 'GARY WAS HERE! ASH IS A LOSER!'
Jason and I busted out laughing at the sign. Laughing at how immature our dads were when they were our age and how they've changed into what they are today.
I then took a marker from my bag and wrote in the opposite corner, 'ADAM AND JASON WERE HERE! BEST BROS. FOREVER!' Now THAT's a much better note.
Author's Note: Not sure if anybody noticed the reference with that sign, so let us know if you recognize it.
So it appears that Team Rocket has resurfaced again after all these years. What are they up to and what are they after? Are they linked to Ash's disappearance or not? Who is the mysterious person that saved Adam and Jason? And what awaits the boys in Cerulean City?
The intensity level of this journey just got a whole lot higher! Find out what new surprises and mysteries await the boys in the next chapter of Pokemon NG!