Once the light of the entrance had faded, the cavern of Mt. Moon was dark as night and as vast as an abyss. Without the light of Charmander's tail, it would've been impossible to see. Mako followed close behind Scarlett as she led them through the dark, insisting that she knew where she was going. Wandering through the dark, Mako felt paranoid and worried that someone or something was following them. He looked around and nearly turned white as a ghost when he noticed they were not alone.
"Umm, Scarlett, we may have a problem." Mako whispered softly.
"There's no problem- Oh." she muttered, turning around to see a huge swarm of Zubats clinging to the ceiling of the cave.
"Stay calm, we have disturbed them yet. If we stay relatively quiet, we should be able to sneak by…"
Suddenly, an explosion sounded off deep within the mountain, sending vibrations throughout the cavern as hot air rushed past them, irritating the bat pokemon. In unison the Zubats extended their wings and began to screech as they descended from the ceiling, swarming all around them.
"Run for it!" Scarlett screamed as she grabbed Charmander and took off running. The Zubats fluttered around Mako and nearly knocked him down as he sprinted to follow the glow of Charmander's flame.
The screeching didn't stop as they went deeper into the cave and with no signs of Team Rocket, Mako started to think this was a bad idea. They stopped for a minute to catch their breath and stumbled upon an old rope ladder that descended further down, and Mako was even more reluctant to enter than he was to enter the cavern. There were crates and barrels of supplies labeled with a large 'R' stamped across the middle of them. Scarlett peered inside one of the crates that had already been open. A dark, sparkling stone caught her eye as she picked it up for closer inspection.
"I- don't think we should be touching this stuff, Scarlett." Mako whispered.
"Relax Mako, it's not considered stealing if you're taking it from a gang of thieves."
Scarlett said before shoving the shiny stone in her bag.
"They have to be down there. We'll have to climb down in the dark though, so be careful." She said, returning Charmander to its ball as Mako cautiously tried to look down the bottom. She went first down the ladder and Mako was close behind, not wanting to be left alone in the dark. As they reached the bottom, they could hear voices going back and forth from the deepest part of the cave.
Scarlett and Mako crept through the darkness toward the voices, trying to be as stealthy as possible. The glow from the grunts' lanterns soon became visible on the cavern wall, and they were close enough to hear what the grunts were saying.
"I'm telling you, those kids chased me outta there with some strong Pokemon! Much stronger than anything else I've seen from Viridian lately anyway."
"That must be the grunt from earlier." Scarlett whispered.
"For the last time Grunt, grab a fossil and get going. Boss ain't going to be happy if we don't deliver these on time." The lead grunt ordered.
Scarlett and Mako sneaked as close as they could without being seen as they watched the grunts haul pokemon fossils out of the debris from their explosion and load them into crates.
"I don't see why we're stuck down here carrying all these old pokemon rocks anyway, ain't we in the business of stealing other people's pokemon and making kids cry?" One of the grunts groaned.
"Yeah, this is grunt work! We should be assigned to Operation: TFZ! That's where the real action is." One said.
"On the bright side, I heard these pokemon fossils are worth a fortune! Maybe we should set a couple aside for a Game Corner fund. You know, just between us." Another suggested.
"We do what Boss says and that's that. Now get going before these lanterns burn out! I don't have any fire types on hand! Do you!?" The grunts argued as they started to pack up the crates, with Scarlett and Mako still watching from the darkness. Sweat beaded down Mako's face as Scarlett crept closer. He tried to stop her, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.
"Going somewhere?" She declared from the darkness.
"Who's there!?" The lead grunt demanded.
Scarlett sent out Charmander and lit up the rest of the cavern, exposing the four grunts and their supplies. Tools, fossils and glittering stones were scattered all around the cavern, refracting the lantern's glow in all directions.
"Hey look! It's those kids again!" One of the grunts cried.
"Look at this mess! You guys can't just come down here and take what you want! This is a protected wildlife area!" Scarlett demanded, scolding them as their fear quickly faded.
"This is a protected wildlife area!" One of the grunts mocked. The four men laughed at her, only making her more angry.
"Does it look like we care? Leave now, before you get hurt down here." Another one threatened. Scarlett doubled down as Mako nervously reached for Squirtle's ball.
"I'm not letting you leave with those fossils." Scarlett declared as her Charmander growled at them. The grunts sneered and readied their pokeballs, preparing for a fight.
"You're acting like we don't have a choice. Go Sandslash!"
"Come out Weezing!"
"Let's go Graveler!"
"Go Dugtrio!"
Mako sent out Squirtle but they were outnumbered four to two, and the grunts' pokemon were significantly stronger. Scarlett let out Nidoran as well, but their three pokemon were still easily outmatched. Mako looked at Scarlett, but she looked determined to battle.
"We warned you not to get involved, and now you're going to pay." One of the grunts growled. The Sandslash kicked up a sandstorm while the Dugtrio prevented their escape with its arena trap ability, able to block any exit from its underground burrows. Scarlett and Mako stood close behind their pokemon as Charmander's Ember and Nidoran's Poison Sting kept Weezing and Graveler at bay.
"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Mako called out, but Squirtle was too frightened and withdrew into its shell.
"Come on Squirtle, now isn't the time!" He begged. Charmander and Nidoran weren't able to hold them off for long, and soon the four pokemon surrounded them.
"Now we've got you." The lead grunt growled.
Suddenly a large demonic shadow appeared in the darkness and loomed behind Mako and Scarlett, stopping the grunts and their pokemon in their tracks. It let out an eerie screech that pierced through the cavern, forcing Scarlett and Mako to cover their ears as they returned Nidoran and Squirtle.
"Grab what you can and scram!" The lead grunt shouted. The grunts returned their pokemon and fled the cave in a hurry with whatever fossils and stones they could carry in their arms. Scarlett and Mako turned around to face the monster, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Once they realized it was an illusion, a mysterious girl stepped out of the shadows with her ghost Pokemon, Misdreavus by her side. Scarlett scanned it with her pokedex, while Mako called out to the girl.
"W-who are you?"
The girl had an annoyed look on her face as she started to shout at them.
"You two have no idea what you're getting yourselves into. My advice to you is to back off and leave Team Rocket to me, before one of you gets hurt." Scarlett furrowed her brow and shook her fist at the stranger.
"Is that a threat?" She barked.
"Look lady, we're just trying to stop Team Rocket from stealing anymore Pokemon!" Mako declared, but the girl laughed arrogantly at Mako's ignorance.
"If you really want to stop Team Rocket, meet me in Saffron when you can actually handle yourselves in a battle. Because to be honest, that was pathetic." Her Misdreavus teleported her away before they could rebuttal, leaving them surprised and confused.
"Wait, she's gone?!" Mako exclaimed, astonished by the pokemon's move.
"Who was that? And why does she want us to meet her in Saffron City?" Scarlett wondered as she looked at the pokedex entry. Mako shrugged and shook nervously as he looked around at the dismay of the cavern.
"I'm not so sure, but we should get going before someone else shows up." Scarlett agreed and they followed the same path the grunts had gone down, assuming it led to a way out.
They found the exit that led them onto Route Four as they stepped out into the falling summer sunset. The day had escaped them since they had been wandering in the caves longer than they intended. With nightfall less than a couple hours away, they had no choice but to continue east toward Cerulean City and the closest pokecenter. Mako asked Scarlett more about the mysterious girl and Team Rocket, but she dismissed him while she fiddled with her pokedex.
"Do you always keep Charmander out of its ball?" He asked, subtly changing the topic. Scarlett smiled and patted her lizard pokemon on the head.
"Most of the time, yeah. I can't count all the cool stuff we've seen together. We've grown pretty close in the few weeks we've known each other, but I've just recently started to hone its battle skills." She explained. Dusk had settled in by the time they'd reached the city limits, and Mako was relieved to have finally reached a rest stop.