Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 8: Explorers of Darkness.
"Nooo. I can't eat any more beans. I don't even like beans."
Pikachu watched the sleeping face of his trainer, who somehow was able to talk in his dream, with a look of disappointment. He decided to forgive this unsightly behavior mostly because the boy covered him in his hands so that the electric Pokemon didn't take any damage from the fall. They still were fairly lucky, since instead of the bottom of the cave, they landed on a ledge extending from the wall a couple meters down. Nevertheless, Red hit himself in the head and has been unconscious for a couple hours and has suddenly began talking about various things he would eat for breakfast when he was still living with his parents.
Pikachu decided that it was time to wake the teenager up by using a small amount of his electricity. The boy opened his eyes and got himself up to a sitting position in a hurry as he let out an intelligible scream. After calming down, he looked around, while rubbing his eyes and covering the yawning coming from his mouth, to get an idea of where he currently was.
"Oh, Pikachu." he said after noticing the Pokemon who was sitting next to him "I'm glad that you're not hurt. Wait... Am I hurt?"
He reached to the back of his head with the right hand and then looked at it but there was no blood, so he decided to count himself lucky. He slowly stood up and walked towards the edge. He could see the tracks from which they fell but the bottom was still far away. They were too far from the other side to see if Blue also managed to land on some ledge.
The boy heard the voice of his Pokemon and when he turned around, he realized that there was a narrow opening in the wall behind them. He checked to see if he would fit inside and if the sides didn't have any sharp protrusions. After determining that he could safely pass, Red ordered Pikachu to walk in front and continue to provide a light source. After a couple minutes of walking, the ceiling of the corridor started to get lower and the boy had to hunch over and finally to start walking on his knees which proved to be tiring because he slid his legs against hard rocks.
"Pika!" the Pokemon spoke up and pointed towards them.
Red, who has stopped to rest and was caressing his aching knees, looked at what Pikachu was trying to show him and noticed that the tunnel seemed to end and there was some sort of light coming through from the outside.
"Let's check it, but be careful. This may lead us to the outside of Mount Moon and I don't feel like taking another fall."
They both were very surprised when they reached the end of the tunnel and what they save was an enormous room full of various minerals, many of which were giving off a bright light which made the entirety of the place completely visible. Additionally, it seemed like some parts of this place were sculpted with Red noticing rock stairs leading to the center of the room, where a group of Pokemon were loudly arguing over something.
The trainer picked up Pikachu and he slid down the small hill and landed right next to the group of Pokemon where he noticed that they were gathered around something akin to an altar with one of them laying on top of it. Red took out his Pokedex and learned that those were Clefairy, Pokemon who according to legends came from the Moon and started living in this mountain, so the place was named after the Moon.
Some of them backed off in fear but one stood up to Red and tried to punch him in the leg. He missed because the trainer passed him by to walk over to the altar. After looking at the one laying there, he came to the conclusion that it was poisoned by another Pokemon. He reached into his bag and, after rummaging a bit, took out a Pecha Berry and put it near the hurt Clefairy's mouth. At first, it didn't want to eat it, but seeing how the boy insisted and it was in too much pain to fight back, the Pokemon bit into the berry. Suddenly, it felt a wave of pleasant shivers come over its body and slowly got up while taking more bites of the berry, finally consuming it in its entirety.
The other ones observed this scene with amazement, but when the healed Clefairy let out a happy cry, they all answered in the same way, causing quite a lot of noise. They started jumping onto the altar to shake their friends hands. There were around 20 of them so they all didn't fit on there. The rest started gathering around Red and hugging his legs.
"It's okay. Calm down, calm down." he said since he felt a little awkward.
The Pokemon decided to give him space after the healed one seemingly ordered them to do it. The one that tried to oppose Red at the beginning ran up one set of stairs and reached into a small opening in a wall. He returned soon and pushed his way through the crowd. Red squatted to see what the Pokemon wanted. Clefairy put forward both of its hands, holding in them two peculiar stones covered in shining dust.
"I wonder if these are the Moon Stones that Team Rocket is after?" Red said to himself while examining the gifts.
"They are. So would you mind handing them over?"
Red looked around and stopped when he saw that two men dressed in Team Rocket outfits were walking down the stairs. The room had a couple different exits so they must have heard the ruckus made by celebrating Clefairies and walked in through one of them.
The one walking in front had a confident smile on his face while the other one was either very angry about something or very constipated, it was hard to tell. Red gave a quick look to Pikachu and snapped his fingers. Before the criminals could understand what was happening, the electric Pokemon used Quick Attack to deliver a blow to the belly of the smiling one, which sent him back up the stairs and crashing into the other one. Pikachu landed and waited for their reaction.
"Hey! Get off me!" the second man yelled.
When he realized that his companion passed out after being hit, he pushed him off himself, causing the body to roll down the stairs, probably hurting him even more than the Quick Attack. The angry man got up and tried to reach for a pokeball attached to his belt but a swift electric charge delivered to his hand by Pikachu, proved enough to make him abandon that idea. Instead, he chose to run away the same way he arrived in the chamber.
"We're going after him. He will lead us to the others." Red told Pikachu while running up the steps.
On the way, he passed the other one so he turned around to the group of Clefairies "Can you take care of him if he wakes up and tries anything?"
The one who was healed and the one who gave Red the Moon Stones both let out a confident shout, while the other ones just nodded.
. . .
A Team Rocket member with reddish-brown hair combed to the side in a stylish manner, wearing black rimmed glasses and a yellow muffler was sitting on a flat boulder and reading a pocket-sized book from a famous writer in Kalos region, filled with poetry about the nature and people. One of his underlings was standing above him with a flashlight since the light provided by shining minerals wasn't enough and the man didn't like to strain his already deteriorating eyesight.
6 other members he took with him on this escapade were resting in the same chamber, while 2 others seemed to wander off somewhere. He disliked that he would have to punish them, but he decided to always be strict with upholding his orders since he didn't want anybody to get an idea of taking his place as one of the Admins.
"Alex! Hey, Alex!" a yell rang out from somewhere.
The Admin closed the book while sighing at the stupidity of somebody showing this kind of impertinence, even though they all should have known what the consequences were. He slowly stood up while the underling beside him reluctantly turned off the flashlight. Soon, the man who escaped from his meeting with Red, arrived in the room while breathing heavily. The Admin gestured to another one, a woman, and she provided the arriving member with a bottle of water. He drank almost half of it and looked up at his boss who now walked over and was right in front of him.
"Alex, it's terri-" he started out but didn't have a chance to finish.
The Admin lifted his leg as high as the underlings head and kicked it from the side, causing the man to fall on the ground.
"We aren't on equal terms, you piece of trash. Don't ever call me by my name again."
The man turned over and touched his face, feeling that he lost 2 or 3 teeth thanks to that kick. A sign of tears appeared in his eyes, seeing how he was treated after what he just went through at the hands of Red, only to get punished after trying to deliver a warning to his teammates.
"Hey, Alex. Don't treat him so badly. It looks like the poor guy is about to piss his pants."
A vein popped up on the Admins forehead and he gritted his teeth as he looked around to see where that voice came from. Not seeing anyone owning up to these words, he finally yelled out "Who the hell said that?!"
"Pika!"
As Alex turned around, he barely noticed a yellow streak passing him. Pikachu hit one of the Team Rocket's members and ricocheted into another one, knocking them both out, before returning to the side of his trainer who just then appeared from one of the entrances to the room. The mouse used its tail to high five its trainer after jumping up far enough. Alex looked around, slowly realizing what has happened. He ventured out to Mount Moon with 9 underlings. Now, 2 of them were passed out, 1 was missing and 1 was crying on the floor.
"You seem to think you're some kind of badass for eliminating a couple of these guys. I don't know who you are and don't care. You are interrupting the assignment we got from boss so we will have to kick your ass. Not me, mind you. These guys will be enough." Alex said to Red.
The other members of Team Rocket understood what he meant and called out their Pokemon. Red was now faced with a group of 5 Koffings which floated around the chamber while smiling menacingly.
"Hey. 5 of these ugly balls against my Pikachu? That's not really fair."
"We are Team Rocket. We don't play fair." responded one of the members.
"Wow. Is everything you guys say a cliché?" Red said with a disappointed look "Anyway, I should tip the scales a little in my favor. Come on, my buddies!"
Red released the remaining two of his Pokemon from their pokeballs. Charmander immediately took a fighting stance, smiling, anticipating the start of the battle. Eevee, like he usually did, ran to his trainer to receive a pat on the head before the battle. One of the Team Rocket members swallowed saliva gathering in his mouth from fear of how calm their opponent seemed to be, even with the odds seemingly stacked against him.
"What are you waiting for?! Attack already!" yelled out Alex who in the meantime sat back down on the boulder he was on before.
One of the startled underlings looked back at their leader, then turned around an commanded "Koffing, use Smog!"
"You too!" the other four also ordered their Pokemon.
The group of Koffing gathered in a line and let out purple clouds filled with poison towards their opponent. The attacks combined into one, which covered almost half of the space between the walls, floor and ceiling, giving Red and his Pokemon scarce chance to avoid it. Unfortunately for them, the teenager had a different plan.
"Ember!"
Charmander, being the only one to whom that command could apply, stepped forward and shoot a barrage of fiery bullets into the thick, poisonous fog. The Team Rockets members standing on the other side, couldn't see what was happening at first, so they were waiting with anticipation for the attack to hit their Pokemon. Instead, as soon as the flaming balls touched the cloud of poison, they caused it to combust in a frighteningly quick way.
The flames headed towards the mouths of Koffings from which the cloud were still being emitted, and in a fraction of a second, caused a big explosion. Red managed to grab Charmander who was the closest to it of his teammates and jumped on the ground where he hoped that it wouldn't reach quickly rolled over, when a piece of rock fell from the ceiling near his head, to make sure that anything wouldn't hit him. After a couple seconds of loud noises and blinding light, the boy slowly got up and looked at the thinning smoke left after the explosion. After a while, the group of Koffing could be seen again, but this time, they were all laying fainted on the floor.
"My arm!" one of the Team Rockets member shrieked in pain since it seemed that a rocky shard sunk into his forearm.
When he saw Red, he looked up in anger and started moving towards him in a staggering manner, until he saw a hand blocking his way. Somehow, Somehow, Alex managed to move past everyone, who were either checking for injuries or still covering their heads while squirming on the ground.
"I'm impressed by your abilities, my boy." he said.
"What? How old are you exactly?" Red wondered.
"I... Don't interrupt me! Anyway... You managed to beat almost all of my underlings..."
"No, I beat them all. There was one more guy who I defeated a couple minutes ago."
"Oh. They you managed to beat all of them. Wonderful!"
"Wait... Why is it wonderful that I won?"
"Don't you get it? This is a golden opportunity! One that comes once in a lifetime! I always seek to raise the standard of our group, yet I have to deal with these bumbling buffoons. I don't know yet if you are a man of culture like myself, but I recognize your tactical wit and fighting abilities. If you joined Team Rocket, you would surely raise in ranks in no time. I would humbly say that I'm the second or third strongest person in the organization. With your strength, you could fit in right below me. So, how about it?"
"How about no?"
Alex looked at him with an empty expression of surprise "Let me get it clear. You are saying "no"?"
"Absolutely. It's nothing against you, but I just heard all this bad stuff about your group. And all this time you acted all high and mighty but I still haven't seen you do anything that would make me impressed."
Alex laughed out aloud, causing his underlings to back off. They knew that him acting in this way wouldn't lead to anything good.
"Of course! Of course! You would need to see my abilities before you recognized my authority! Then, how about we make a deal? If I win here, you will join Team Rocket, but if I lose, we will leave Mount Moon and never return here."
One of the underlings looked as if he wanted to get up and protest, but a quick glance from Alex, stopped the man in his tracks.
"I'll raise the stakes!" Red answered happily "If I ever lose to any Team Rocket goon, I will join you right away. But if I win, you have to tell me why are you guys guarding the Viridian City Gym!"
Alex took a step back, being in shock after hearing the teenagers demand. Their association with that place was one of the biggest secret about Team Rocket, yet somehow a part of it leaked out. After mentally reminding himself that he has nothing to worry about, since he was sure of winning the upcoming fight, Alex readjusted his glasses with the middle finger of his left hand and stretched both of his arms a little, before detaching from the belt the only pokeball he carried with him.
"I'll allow you to use all your Pokemon. You can use them all at the same time or one by one. Basically, do whatever you want."
"You seem pretty confident. Just don't cry about it when we beat you!" Red answered while stepping forward, with all three of his Pokemon lined up in front of him.
"Don't worry. I won't. Go!" Alex said as he threw the pokeball into air.
. . .
Somewhere else in the massive cave system, the Team Rocket member who was left alone in the room full of Clefairies after Pikachu attacked him, was running as fast as he could, since the group of pink Pokemon began throwing rocks at him as soon as he woke up. He didn't even know what direction he was running in.
At one point he stopped hearing the rocks being thrown at him so he looked back without stopping his legs and saw that he wasn't being chased anymore.
Suddenly, he noticed that what he was looking at has started turning upside down, and after hitting the ground, he realized that something lifted him up into the air and then threw him onto the floor of the cave. He got up, mouth full of dirt and angrily looked at who had done it to him. It turned out to be an Ivysaur.
"Huh? Where did this thing come from?" he said in astonishment.
"Are you alright?" a voice came from past the grass Pokemon.
The Team Rocket member saw who he assumed to be the trainer of Ivysaur. What he did not know was that it was Green, the same person who saved Red from a flock of Spearow on Route 1. The teenager reached out with his hand to help the man stand up.
"Next time look forward when running. You almost ran into me, so Ivysaur instinctively used its vines to protect me."
The criminal slapped the helping hand away, and got up by himself.
"I don't need your charity! Everybody is treating me like trash today! I'm gonna relieve my anger by kicking your ass!" he yelled while grabbing Green by the collar of his shirt.
Suddenly, he felt drowsy to the point of yawning. Slowly, he lost his strength and will to fight, let go of Green and collapsed to the floor again. It was the doing of Ivysaur who used Sleep Powder to protect his trainer.
"Good job. But this guy... It looks like he's a Team Rocket member. We should tie him up and at least call the police after leaving him in front of one of the entrances. I wonder if he's alone. Well, I would have to be a fool to search for a group of dangerous criminals in this massive mountain that I don't know my way around."
. . .
In another part of the cave system, a person fitting what Green described was beginning to regret his overconfidence, as Pikachu was sent flying past him and straight into a wall. It got up by propping itself up on its leg. One of its eyes was closed as it was trying to deal with the pain. After seeing that his Pokemon was still ready to fight, Red looked back to his opponent.
Alex was using what seemed to also be a Pikachu, but a second later changed shape to get ready for Charmander who was attempting to get it with Scratch. For a small time it was a violet blob, but it quickly became an exact copy of its foe, and blocked the attack with a Scratch of its own.
"Ember!" ordered Alex.
"Get back!" yelled Red.
Charmander belonging to the teenager wasn't fast enough, and was hit straight in the face, which sent him crashing down into the ground. Eevee attempted to use the situation, thinking that the opponent was distracted, but the copy lizard spun around, transformed into the dog and kicked with both of its leg, causing Eevee to hit the ground right next to Charmander.
"Now you see why I was so confident that I could beat all your Pokemon." Alex said, as his Pokemon changed back into its original form and using elasticity, jumped onto the criminals shoulder "Give up now. You'll join Team Rocket either way and at least your Pokemon will avoid getting beaten up any more. We may be known as villains but we care for our own."
"Then what about your underlings?"
"Oh, I care about them. I sometimes have to punish them if they act like cretins, which they usually do, but I don't necessarily take pleasure in it. Maybe expect for Roger. I hate that he showers once a week."
"But it's a waste of water!" spoke up one of the Team Rocket members.
"Shut up, Roger! Or I'm going to tell the cooks to not give you dessert for the next month!"
Roger swallowed saliva in fear, after which he saluted "Yes, sir!"
The Admin turned his attention back to Red "Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Have you decided to give up?"
"Far from it. In the time you were arguing, I came up with a sure win strategy."
"Really? I'd like to see it. I'll give you a couple seconds to at least get your plan into motion before Ditto stops you."
"You are very generous."
"You could say that's my second name." Alex answered sarcastically and chuckled a little.
After being surrounded by incompetent thugs or people who thought themselves to be better than him, it was nice to talk to somebody who showed promise, but not enough to ever get too big for their britches.
"Okay. Do you understand." Red stood up after explaining the strategy he came up with to all his Pokemon.
They looked a little unsure, but decided to execute the order anyway. Alex looked with curiosity as Eevee stepped forward and bent its legs to allow Pikachu to get on its back. Next, Charmander climbed onto the back of Pikachu. Finally, Eevee stood up slowly, as to not lose the balance. They all were on all four limbs and formed a bizarre tower where most of what Alex could see were their heads.
"What? What is this?" he asked in confusion.
"Your Ditto can't transform into all of them, at least not fast enough, if they are in this formation. I call this new strategy: Totemon!"
The Team Rocket members, including those who were beginning to regain their consciousness, started laughing uncontrollably.
"Here I was hoping that it was something clever... Ditto, attack the Eevee!"
The violet blob took on an aerodynamic shape as it flew through the air, but instantly assumed the dog Pokemon's form when it touched the floor. It proceeded to use Quick Attack, but Red had no reason to give any more orders, since he already prepared his team for this during the short briefing.
When the enemy approached them, the Pokemon jumped up in short intervals, starting with Charmander and ending with Eevee. The Foe stopped in astonishment when he realized that he didn't hit anything. It looked up to see its opponent falling down on it, intending to use Scratch, Tackle and Iron Tail respectively. It instinctively tried to cope with this situation by transforming into one of them, but it couldn't choose which one, changing its form several times during a short span of time, until it finally went back to its original appearance, at which point, all the attacks hit it, causing it to get splashed on the ground.
"It seems I won." Red said with a prideful look.
His Pokemon, after determining that their opponent fainted, even though his body returned to a more solid form after a couple seconds, all jumped up and performed a team high five.
"Come back, Ditto." Alex returned the Pokemon to its ball and looked at Red "I have to congratulate you."
"Oh. Thanks. I..."
"But! You said that you'll join Team Rocket if any our members beat you. We still have 3 Koffings left and your Pokemon are pretty worn out after our battle. Let's see how long you can last!"
The members of Team Rocket who were attacked before they could use their Pokemon previously, all called out their Koffings. They already received explanation as to why they shouldn't use Smog, so they were all smiling deviously, knowing that the odds were in their favor. Opting for a physical approach, all of them yelled out "Tackle!"
"Air Cutter!"
Before the poisonous orbs could do anything, a series of what seemed to be blades made out of air, came raining down from somewhere above, causing them all to get hurt and plummet to the ground. This caused everyone to look up to the ceiling, where they just then noticed an opening which must have led to another chamber, as the attacked was caused by a Zubat which flew through there.
Understanding what was happening, Red ran over to cover Alex's eyes. The Koffing owners were too busy trying to run from the Zubat, which tried to bite them, while the rest of criminals were on the far end of the room. This allowed Blue to jump down without worries, although she still held onto her skirt. Red looked back at her and they both exchanged a thumbs up gesture. Soon, he was standing by her side and the Zubat stopped his attack to fly besides his owner.
"Don't you wanted to take a peek?"
"As if, stupid. Is that your mystery Pokemon?"
"No, I caught Bat when I was searching for you. Although, seeing what the situation is, I guess it's time. Go, Bell and Tori!"
Blue threw two pokeballs into the air, releasing Bellsprout, but also a light blue Pokemon that Red hasn't seen before. He quickly used his Pokedex to learn that it was a Squirtle.
"So why were you keeping it a mystery?"
"Are you kidding me? Squirtles are pretty rare. I was lucky to get it from Professor Oak."
"What?!" Red jumped back in shock "That means you are the third trainer! Or, I guess you are the second since I'm the third."
"Anyway, that's not what's important right now. Team Rocket! You wanted a three on three battle, so let's make it fair! My three Pokemon against your Koffings!"
"No." Alex declared "That's enough. I don't want to come off as a sore loser. I'll uphold my end of the deal and we are gonna leave this place. I'm gonna call that one underling later and tell him that the mission is over. We lost. I know that you dislike clichés, boy, but the next time we meet, I'm gonna be the winner."
"Good luck with that. One last thing. I raised the stakes, remember? What is the deal with the Viridian Gym?"
"Well, I guess I may as well tell you. I don't really get why the boss still has someone guard that place. Maybe he's nostalgic?"
"Nostalgic?" Blue asked.
"Yes. Our boss was previously the leader of that Gym and the only reason he opened that place was to scout out new Team Rocket members. After finally gathering enough, he abandoned it. Well... not completely, it seems."
"Thanks for telling the truth." Red walked over and reached out his hand, but Alex shook his head to the sides in response.
"We can't become friends. Not yet. But... What is your name?"
"It's Red."
"Red. I'll remember you." after saying that he turned around to his underlings "Okay, you stinking piles of shit! We are getting out of here!"
"Yes, Mr Alex!"
It's not like I'm desperately trying to make long chapters, but before putting in these notes at the end, this chapter is actually the longest one so far. It's probably because a lot of it wasn't actually planned to appear in it.
The whole thing with Clefairy was meant to go in the previous chapter but I preferred to leave it on a "cliffhanger"(almost literally).
The part with Green was a completely new addition. He was going to appear soon anyway, so I just decided to show a little of his journey, since the story is really Red centric. When planning the stories I realized that too late, so I'm gonna try to put in more intermissions like that.
This chapter introduced the biggest number of Pokemon, while also showing the first Team Rocket Admin. Alex came off a little more immature than I intended him to be but he's still in the top three of the villains I have planned for this series so far. I know there was a reason I gave him that name but I'm not sure what it was.
By the way, the title comes from one of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games.
From other news, after two weeks I finished Beck. I really liked it up until the last episode. I have no idea if that end was anime original or what but they should have had like an OVA or something to wrap things up nicely instead of rushing it. But why am I talking about it? I just feel like everything I watch ifluences my writing to some degree, consciously or not and I guess I'd like to give credit. It's like, when books have a page where authors thank their friends for inspiring them and helping them get through writing. I have friends, but they're not much help in this department. Most of my inspirations I get from anime, youtube comedy gamers(like GG and AH) and music(which is mostly also from anime).
That's it for today. It was nice that I could do the next chapter so quickly, but I really should get to work on my BA thesis. We'll see how that goes.
