Chapter 4; trials of the mountain

Sonic with Pikachu on his head was walking through a valley heading towards cerulean city. It had been an exhausting walk.

They had encountered over 10 trainers on their way there already and all of them had challenged them especially after realizing he already had a badge. Both squirtle and Pikachu had become much more adept to battling by now and Sonic felt squirtle's evolution was nearing. He wondered how squirtle felt about it or even if it would evolve when the time came.

"Why wouldn't it want to though?" he wondered again to himself.

Soon after that the path ended in the entrance of a cave. Sonic cursed at the fact that he had forgotten a flashlight and promised himself he would buy one in cerulean city. Deciding to rest before entering the cave he put Pikachu gently on the ground, sent out squirtle to stretch and face-timed Jet.

"Hey bro".

"Yo how did the battle go?" Jet asked him anxiously.

Sonic revealed the boulderbadge.

"No way! You beat the gym leader?!"

"Yeah. But it was very close. And to be honest under normal circumstances I would have lost".

"What do you mean normal circumstances?"

"Pikachu somehow has the ability to damage ground types with electric moves. It damaged Brock's Onix long enough to escape its grasp and beat it".

Jet was dumbfounded.

"What are you saying? That you have an omnipotent Pikachu?"

"Of course not. But I can't explain how this happened. Brock said it could be the result of our bond but we met literally 2 days ago".

"Weird indeed. Wait who's Brock?"

"The gym leader".

"How come you got to a first name basis?"

The next few minutes went by as Pikachu and squirtle were playing and Sonic told Jet what transpired and what Brock told him about himself.

"Man. I gotta start appreciating mom and dad more. We might fight with them sometimes but… I can't even say it. Abandon your kid?"

"I just wish Brock gets a chance at his dream on day".

"Same here. Where are you now?"

"Heading to cerulean city for the 2nd badge though I'm sure after the battle with Brock we will need much training. And maybe a third member for the team".

"That would be cool. Anyway gotta go catch you son brother".

"Hehe. Talk to you later" Sonic laughed and hang up.

Walking to tell Pikachu and squirtle it was time to go, the shadow of something big covered them. Sonic looked up and saw a huge bird pokemon looking at them from a higher ground. The sun was behind it making it hard to figure what species it was.

"What is this?" Sonic wondered.

The bird then let a loud screech and unleashed a flamethrower attack. Sonic dodged but the bird attacked again. Squirtle tried to use water gun but it was too weak to fight the fire move. Sonic tried to cover squirtle from the flames causing his right hand to get burned.

"AAAAH!" he screamed in pain.

Unexpectedly the attack stopped. Sonic tried to look up but Pikachu who had ducked to avoid the flamethrower released a thunder shock causing the bird to flee. As it flew away and squirtle used water gun on Sonic's arm to chill it down a bit, Sonic was able to notice the bird's skin being an open yellow as well as its wings covered in flames.

"What the… was that… a moltres?"

"Pika pika" Pikachu got in his face worried.

"Argh. Don't worry guys I'm fine. But we should traverse the cave and reach cerulean city. If that was a moltres it could attack us again in the valley. We shouldn't take this chance" he said as he picked up he ventured into the cave. Squirtle and Pikachu looked at each other and followed him in.

The cave was very dark. Immediately upon entering they began being harassed by wild zubats and geodudes. Pikachu used his electricity to scare away the zubats while squirtle fired water gun on the geodudes knocking many of them out and sending the rest running.

"Damnit I can't see anything" Sonic said barely able to see after his eyesight was adjusted to the darkness "if only Pikachu knew flash".

Suddenly they saw a torch in the distance. Slowly they walked towards it. It belonged to a hiker. The hiker heard Sonic's footsteps and turned around seeing him.

"Hello there stranger. Are you ok?"

"Yeah" Sonic said not convincing him.

"What with your arm?"

"Just had a small incident with a fire type earlier".

"I see" the hiker said as he watched it "we need to get you to cerulean city fast so that the burn can be treated".

"That's where I'm headed problem is I can't see in here without a pokemon knowing the move flash".

"Do not worry I know this cave quite well. Follow me" he said as he took the lead. Sonic followed.

While walking the hiker noticed Sonic's small bag around his chest.

"If you don't mind me asking what's that bag for? Seems too small to carry pokeballs".

"It's not for pokeballs it's for the gym badges".

"Oh so you're going for the league".

"Yeah. Eventually".

"But wait a minute. Why are you heading to cerulean city? You should be challenging Brock. He lives in pewter from where you came".

"I know. I beat Brock earlier today".

"Nice" the hiker said.

At that moment they were jumped by zubats and geodudes again. Sonic's pokemon came out on their own and drove them off.

"You beat brock with these 2 alone?"

"Yeah. Close battle but yeah".

For a second Sonic felt like he saw a shine of greed in the hiker's eyes, but the next moment he was sure he had imagined it.

"I see. Very nice" he said without any color in his voice.

Sonic and the hiker continued forward. Eventually Sonic started noticing the path heading downwards as if they were going deeper underground.

"Are you sure we're going in the right way?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. Cerulean city is lower in altitude compared to pewter city, don't you worry".

Sonic immediately felt unnerved. While he believed he wasn't lying about the altitude difference, the cold and chill don't you worry made him suspicious.

They kept walking for a little while until they found themselves in a huge room. Sonic noticed on the other side the opening that continued the path towards cerulean but before he could walk towards it a huge boulder moved in the way.

"What the…" he managed to say before feeling a rumbling.

Out of nowhere 3 Onix appeared and surrounded them. Sonic looked around trying to figure what to do when he noticed people behind the onix.

"I'm afraid this the end of the line my friend" the hiker said in a calm yet threatening manner "if you could manage to beat brock with only a squirtle then it must be very strong. So we will be taking it".

"Do you really think I will let you?" Sonic fired back.

"Oh I don't think you will. But whether you do or not won't matter. We can't have you get out of the cave and contact the authorities".

Sonic's eyes bulged in shock realizing that this was not just about his pokemon.

"What are you gonna do exactly? Kill me? Don't you think they will look for me and find you?"

"No. As they didn't look for the other 5 unfortunate fools we found".

"You're sick. Sicker than team rocket!"

"Watch how you speak about our customers, boy" one of the hiker's allies said.

"You're on their payroll! Damn you all!" Sonic said in anger.

"Enough! Onix bury him!"

"Squirtle, Pikachu come on out!"

The 2 pokemon came out, ready to fight.

"A pikachu against 3 onix? How stupid! Rock tomb!"

"Squirtle fire rock tomb back!" Sonic said he and Pikachu dodged the other 2 rock tombs together. Squirtle fired rock tomb back nullifying the effect of the first one.

"Now withdraw and water gun!"

Squirtle launched itself onto onix damaging it.

"So you think you're a smartass! Onix! Take out that squirtle! Sand tomb!"

"Use water gun again!"

Squirtle launched itself above the first onix causing the two sand tombs to strike it along with the water gun that hit directily. The onix fainted as squirtle found itself falling onto the 2nd onix.

"Onix move! Other onix use rock tomb!"

"No! Pikachu thunder shock!"

Pikachu unleashed thunder shock not damaging the onix a lot but causing it to lose balance and miss the attack.

"How is that possible?!" the hiker said realizing in shock Pikachu had affected onix.

Squirtle thinking on its feet used water gun to propel itself away from the 2nd onix hitting it directily and landing next to Pikachu.

"Yeah!" Sonic said.

"That's it!" the hiker yelled in anger "Onix! Bury that squirtle! Sand tomb! You two idiots get the Pikachu and the kid!"

Sonic saw the two goons charging towards him and Pikachu as squirtle was caught in the sand tomb.

"Squirtle withdraw!" Sonic was able to say before being grabbed by one of the goons and getting into a headlock. Pikachu too was caught and struggled to escape.

"A Pikachu that can hit ground types. The boss will pay dearly for that" the hiker rubbed his hands together.

"Thunder…" Sonic tried to say before having his mouth covered by the goon holding him. Sonic pushed his burned hand on the goon's face but the goon grabbed a rock and hit the burn spot with it causing Sonic to moan in pain. Squirtle looked from inside its shell and came out angry.

"Squirtle! Squirtle! Wartu.." it said its body began shining in a bright blue color that lighted the whole room. Everyone in the room looked in awe as the form of squirtle changed inside the glow. Suddenly the glow stopped.

"Warturtle!" a loud deeper cry echoed in the room.

"You evolved!" Sonic thought in awe and inspired managed to bite his captor's hand causing him to release his mouth.

"Warturtle! Use water gun to free Pikachu!"

Warturtle however charged the goon holding Pikachu and bit him in the leg causing him to yell in pain and release Pikachu. Sonic immediately realized.

"Pikachu use quick attack!"

Pikachu charged the goon holding Sonic as he tried to use Sonic as cover. Pikachu however with remarkable speed and precision tackled the goon's face head on causing him to let Sonic go who stumbled but got back up.

"Warturtle use water gun! Pikachu slam that creep!"

Warturtle released water with even greater speed and precision than when it was squirtle. Onix was unable to dodge fast enough and was knocked out. Pikachu slammed the hiker in the belly causing him to fly back towards the wall. The 2 goons retreated to his side overwhelmed by the barrage.

"What are you doing you idiots?" he said getting back up "they're tired don't retreat!"

The 2 goons looked at each other and helped their boss up as Sonic walked back until his back hit the wall. He looked to his right seeing the path towards cerulean city open but realized that if he recalled warturtle the hiker and his goons would rush him and it clearly couldn't outrun them. They were boxed in.

At that moment something big flew in from an opening on the wall. Orange light shined bright in the darkness as the hiker and the goons averted their gaze due to the sudden appearance of the light. Sonic was able to look at it and saw it more clearly.

"Moltres" he murmured.

Moltres let out the same loud screech as before and unleashed flamethrower against the three criminals who tried to run towards the other side of the cave to avoid the flames but found the way towards pewter city blocked by a thrown rock from the rock tomb. Moltres then unleashed a powerful gust of wind causing the ceiling above the goons to destabilize. Before the 3 criminals could react they were buried under the boulders.

Sonic, Pikachu and warturtle saw it all unfold in utter shock. Moltres landed before its accomplishment and then its gaze turned to Sonic and his pokemon. Sonic gulped but noticed Moltres was sizing him with its eyes not moving at all.

"Move… very slowly… to the exit" Sonic whispered.

Both him and his 2 pokemon slowly walked towards the way to cerulean city. They entered the path and Pikachu and warturtle went ahead as fast as they could. Before Sonic followed suit he turned around and met Moltres' eyes one more time.

"Thank you" he said and followed his pokemon.

They ran through the dark tunnel until they could see light. Once they made it out they stopped to catch their breath. To their pleasant surprise they were 5 minutes away from the city.

"Let's go guys" Sonic said intending to find a hospital for humans to get his arm healed. Pikachu and warturtle walked ahead as they exchanged cries of joy towards each other. Sonic walked behind them smiling that they had survived that nightmare then his gaze turned back to the mountain.

"Moltres" he thought "I will find you again when we're strong enough" he completed his thought as he continued walking towards the city.