After Chee had claimed her badge and TM from Brock, we'd made our way down to Route 3, a relatively short route which would lead us to Mt. Moon. The entire way there, Chee's eyes had been swimming with excitement, repeatedly calling Praise me! Praise me! for her battle experience.

Eventually I relented and told her she'd done a great job, which she seemed very happy about. Although to be honest, I still didn't really understand what she'd done. I made her promise to explain it to me later.

As we stepped onto the grass I noticed that, much like when I'd stepped through Route 2 on our way into Pewter City, there were almost a dozen trainers out battling and training in the wild grass. I decided that it was a good idea to try training against them, and suggested as much to Chee.

So we spent our first day challenging trainers. Most of the battles weren't too noteworthy, most of the kids here hadn't actually beaten Brock since the scare tactics had been in place until this morning. At the end of the day however, I noticed that Yeller had reached Level 11.

[Yeller

Rattata* (Level 11)

Hp: 17/29
Atk: 22
Def: 14
Sp. Atk: 9
Sp. Def: 14
Spd: 23

Status Points (1)

Skills:

-Empty-

Moves:

Tackle
Tail Whip
Quick Attack
Focus Energy
Bite]

Bit by bit Yeller was growing stronger, and I still had that single point I'd gained from Route 1's completion reward-Although I didn't feel like a single point was going to do much for either of us at the moment.

After setting up camp for the day, Chee and I went to bed in our tents. I half-expected her to pester me about sleeping together again, but she made no mention of it and slept in her own tent.

Day 49:

The next day was also fairly uneventful, and without the trainers distracting us we were able to get to the Mt. Moon's mine entrance in about half a day.

I gazed over the cavern entrance, checking our backpacks for supplies. I'd known we'd have to travel through a cave to get to Cerulean City, the next city on our Gym Challenge, so I'd prepared flashlights, lighters, matches and cave camping gear. I even packed a pair of pickaxes for in case we had to deal with some pesky rocks, since neither of our Pokemon were particularly adept at such things.

As I zipped up the bag, I noticed Chee was standing by the entrance to the mine, staring at it with a blank look on her face. I couldn't really tell what she was thinking-Although to be honest, I wasn't sure she was actually thinking about anything. She looked to be somewhat frightened, perhaps she was afraid of the dark?

"Everything alright?" I asked cautiously. By this point, I'd known Chee to have both moments where spacing out meant nothing, and moments where it meant she was on the verge of a panic attack. I was hoping for the former in this case.

Unfortunately, it seemed she was closer to the latter, as she snapped out of her blank stare and met my eyes with fear. The moment seemed to pass however, and she nodded her head. ...I'm okay. Just...

I watched her for a moment. She seemed to be struggling with something, but she didn't want to cancel our journey. There was a chance that whatever had traumatised her before had happened here, so I didn't want to push her too hard.

"Do you need some time to calm down?" I asked gently. "We still made some progress, we can enter the cave tomorrow if you prefer."

The black-haired girl lowered her head, but nodded quietly. Yes please.

And so we spent the rest of the day camping by the cave entrance. Chee spent multiple hours staring at the mine, clutching her Pikachu plushie for comfort. Personally I wanted to keep moving as quickly as possible, but it was important to keep her calm and happy.

Oak had pretended to act as though I had potential, but I felt from his actions that I knew the truth. This Gym Challenge wasn't about me-Not really. I was benefiting from it, and using it to grow, but I wasn't worth the investment as a trainer. If I was, I would have found myself in a much higher position in my past life.

This was all about Chee. Because of the training Red gave me in my last life, I was able to communicate with Chee and become her friend. By taking me with her she could make her way through the Gym Challenge and become the champion-level trainer she was meant to be. The purpose of sponsoring me was to force her to leave and travel with me.

I didn't resent that fact, to be clear.

Oak had determined that I was a trainer who would be able to care for her on the journey, and I was strong enough to act as her bodyguard. Coming from a man like Oak, that alone was a complement.

Still, it meant that in moments like this I couldn't afford to force Chee to put up with bad conditions. If I accidentally pushed too hard and she had another breakdown, there was every chance that Oak would cancel my sponsorship as well.

Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have another Champion Level trainer around to help when the Tauros Invasion happens... If she really reached Champion level in time, maybe we could save even more people.

I could only hope so.

Day 50:

"Are you ready?" I asked.

Chee stood beside me, breathing slowly as she held her Pikachu plushie tightly to her chest. With a look of determination in her eyes, she nodded slowly.

"Alright, let's go." I affirmed, and we took our first steps into the cave.

Everything was calm at first, I kept an eye on Chee to make sure she wasn't going to freak out, but she seemed to be handling the situation just fine. Once we were a bit deeper in, I turned on my flashlight and used it to scan the route ahead.

"It's pretty dark in here, huh..." I mused, scanning the cave for any sign of where to head next. "I know that it can be scary, but the darkness is nothing to be afraid of." I soothed her.

I felt a familiar tap on my arm, and I turned to catch sight of Chee's gaze in the minuscule amounts of bouncing light from my flashlight.

I'm not scared of the dark.

I paused, confused. I'd assumed that the reason she was scared to enter the cave was fear of the dark-If it wasn't, why was she scared?

"...Then why are you scared?"

It seemed like she was lost in thought for a moment, but there was a small crumbling noise of rocks hitting the cave floor from our left that drew my attention before I could see what she was thinking. I shone my flashlight over to see where it had come from, and saw a Zubat flutter away when exposed to the light.

"Looks like it's just a Zubat...?" I trailed off, only realising now that there was a tight force pulling on my jacket. I glanced back down to see Chee was visibly shaking, head pointed straight down at the ground. She'd dropped her plushie and was clutching onto my jacket with both hands.

"Hey! Hey, it's alright!" I tried desperately to calm her down. "Everything is okay!"

The shaking slowed slightly, but she didn't look up. I stewed on how I could calm her down for a minute, then I had an idea.

"...Yellow is safe, right?"

She stopped shaking for a moment, then nodded quietly.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." I smiled. "I'm right here with you, and I won't abandon you. Okay?"

She was quiet for a minute, but eventually she let go of my jacket and picked her plushie back up. I breathed a sigh of relief, and she tucked the plushie away back into her bag.

"...Are you going to be okay without the plushie?" I questioned, but she nodded slightly, holding out a hand instead.

I placed the spare flashlight in her palm, but she shook her head at me, pushing the light back into my hands. Once again she held her hand out to me. I checked to make sure her gloves were still intact, which they were.

...She started to look like she was annoyed with me, and I finally got the message as she finally lifted her head back up, looking at me with frustration.

Hold my hand, dummy.

"Ah. Of course." I answered sheepishly, grabbing onto her hand.

I could tell that she was still a bit skittish, but Chee was able to handle whatever she was frightened of relatively easily after that. Every time a noise or sight seemed to frighten her, I made sure to take a break and reassure her that everything was okay.

And yet I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd assumed that she was afraid of the dark, hence why she kept trying to sleep in the same room as me, and why she was frightened of the cave.

But as she'd said, that didn't line up. Not only was she fine whenever we camped outside, she also had seemed completely fine when she'd been captured and taken to the museum-Although Nurse Joy may have had something to do with that.

So what exactly was she scared of?

...

It had been a while since Chee almost had a panic attack, and she was doing a lot better now. The two of us were taking turns taking out the wild Pokemon that attacked, leading to a lot of wild Zubat and Geodude being defeated on our journey.

In the caves like this, the wild Pokemon were a bit more aggressive than the ones you'd normally meet outside. None of them were too strong, but I could definitely see why Brock's Gym had been so tough on trainers before allowing them to move on. If you couldn't pass the tests there, you'd be at risk of dying in the dark cave.

There was something else that concerned me, however.

"Bite!" I ordered, and my faithful companion bit down hard on a Geodude, knocking it unconscious. With a sigh of relief, I pulled my flashlight away from the scene of the battle to double check our surroundings, feeling Chee's hand squeezing at my own to confirm I was still there.

...Completion.

[Mt. Moon Completion:

Defeat Wild Pokemon: 19/20
Reward: Spawn Area Boss

- Defeat Area Boss (UNAVAILABLE)
Reward: 1 PokeStatus Point, Type Proficiency: Rock +50 points, Dark + 30 points]

"...This is bad..." I mumbled to myself. We were at most maybe halfway though the cave, and although Chee was doing her best to be brave, it was immediately apparent that she was not in her best frame of mind. Last time it had taken the two of us working together to barely defeat an area boss.

Avoiding wild Pokemon wasn't really an option either. In the fields we'd explored so far, it was easy enough to make a break for it if we were spotted by an aggressive wild Pokemon, but in this cave it was much harder to escape-Particularly while holding hands with Chee. As soon as the light passed over a wild Pokemon, that was that.

I took a deep breath, then turned my gaze to the girl by my side. "Chee. The next Pokemon we beat..."

She looked up at me with surprise in her eyes, but it seemed like she understood the rest without the need for me to speak. Shakily she let go of my hand and gripped her Bulbasaur's Pokeball instead. I handed her the other flashlight. When the battle went down, we'd want as much light as possible.

The two of us slowly moved onwards, scanning the cave for any signs of hostility. Personally, I was looking for a good arena to wait in and fight the Area Boss, since it could easily turn nasty. A bigger open area would be welcome.

As we forged forwards carefully through the cave, I began to hear weird noises. Clicks, clacks, the reverberating sound of sharp metal on soft rocks. Chips, chisels, footsteps, yet nothing that made sense to me.

Turning a dark corner, I saw the beginnings of a lit up area of the mine, and the peculiar noises got even louder. Walking towards the light, I peaked over to see where the light was coming from.

In a large open room there were around 20-30 men, all wearing black outfits with black berets. Around a third of them stood at the walls, repeatedly swinging pickaxes into the rocks against the wall, chipping off pieces. Another third ferried the shattered rocks over to blankets laid out on the ground, where the remaining third sifted through the rocks looking for something.

A taller man who appeared to be in his thirties stood out, standing with his arms crossed in the centre of the room. His hair was a vibrant purple, long hair on the top with short sides. His chin was covered by a purple goatee. "Remember! We're looking for fossils, not gemstones or gold!" The man bellowed out to the room.

He shook his head and turned away from the mining crew, drawing a cigarette and lighting it with a small lighter. He took a deep breathe of smoke, and I felt chills as I got a good look at the black shirt he was wearing. Emblazoned on it's chest was a large red 'R'.

The signature outfit of Team Rocket.

"...Shoot." I mumbled, realising we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The area they'd mined out would have been ideal for fighting the area boss, since it was well lit and had plenty of room. Unfortunately it was filled with members of Team Rocket, who I wasn't inclined to believe would be happy to see unwanted witnesses.

But if we turned back we were at huge risk of fighting the area boss in the dark...

I felt a round shape pressing into my back, and turned to see that Chee was poking me with the head of her flashlight, which she had turned off. What are you waiting for? Let's go.

It was times like this I envied the childlike innocence Chee possessed. Just a young kid travelling through the cave all by herself, if Team Rocket found her they'd probably just let her pass through, figuring she doesn't know what's happening. It was a shame that I was 22 and couldn't...

...Wait a second. I almost facepalmed myself when I remembered that right now, I was still 11. I hadn't behaved that way so far, but if I were to actually try and behave like a kid...

"Alright, just walk past them without paying any attention, okay?" I confirmed to the girl in front of me. "If we ignore them, they'll probably just ignore us."

Slowly we started walking past the mining operation, and I realised only after we started walking that Chee was still notably nervous. I thought the higher light level might help, but it seemed the lighting of the cave had done almost nothing to calm her nerves.

The way she kept stealing nervous glances down at the Rocket grunts made her look extra suspicious, and I just walked forward hoping that whatever happened, the grunts would overlook two passing kids.

But my hopes were dashed by a shrill squeak, as Chee tripped and tumbled to the ground, Pokeball slipping from her hands and flying across the floor with a painful clacking sound. She scrambled to her feet and desperately ran to reclaim the ball, but before she could grab it a black booted foot stomped down, holding it in place.

"...Well what do we have here?" The purple-haired man grinned down at us. "Pair of kids coming through a dangerous mine like this? I can only think of one reason for that." He reached down and picked up the Pokeball, holding it in his hands as he examined it. "I wonder, could this be a particularly rare Pokemon...?"

I felt an air of menace as the man looked over us. I was wrong to think we'd be allowed to pass just because we were children. I felt no consideration for our age, he saw us as nothing but prey. His eyes were black and heartless, and I wanted nothing more than to grab Chee and run.

...But we couldn't. He had Chee's Bulbasaur now. The trap was perfect, we couldn't afford to leave. He met my eyes, and his smile widened. "Well, are you going to abandon the girl, or will you lend me yours too?"

I stared down the man in front of me, my mind racing a million miles a minute. I wanted to escape, but we were completely surrounded-The Rocket Grunts had noticed the commotion and were blocking our escape routes.

The man took a step forwards, gripping Chee by the shoulder. I wasn't sure if he was actually stronger than her, but Chee was far from in her right mind right now. I wouldn't be able to count on her to get us out of this situation, especially without her Bulbasaur.

Begrudgingly, I handed over a Pokeball to the man in front of me. He nodded at me and stuffed it away in his bag.

"But hey, I'm a nice guy. When we're done here, I'll help you get back to the surface safely." The purple-haired man cracked an evil smile.

"...And for that generous act, I deserve to be compensated. So I'll just help myself to your Pokemon." He finished.