Since their adventure with Raider in Mt. Moon yesterday, Danny and Richard were travelling as fast as they possibly could through Mt. Moon. But with their skills with reading a map, or the lack of them, they were bound to get hopelessly lost in a place like Mt. Moon.

"I don't get it, there should be a tunnel to the left", Danny said frustrated.

Richard sighed. "Give me the map."

He took the map out of Danny's hands. "Maybe it is a good idea to keep the map up straight?", he said.

Danny took the map back and realised Richard was right, the map was upside down. They were walking on good luck rather than Danny's sense of direction.

"Okay, I think we should go straight forward, and then to the right", Danny said.

Richard nodded. He had managed to put his fear aside for a bit, but it came creeping back up when Danny said they were lost. Better get out of this cursed mountain as soon as possible, he thought.

Going to their right, the two boys found a small hole in the ground, with a ladder going down into it.

Richard swallowed. "Do we have to go even deeper?"

Danny nodded. "According to this map, yeah."

Richard shivered. He longed back to the days, not that long ago, when they were just travelling through forests.

Neither could see into the hole as it was pitch black. They had flashlights, but they couldn't shine through the dark properly either.

"Charmander, can you light up our path?"

Out of safety reasons, the two boys had decided to keep their teams inside their Pokéballs, but considering Charmander was a living flashlight of sorts, he could stay outside.

Charmander nodded and climbed down the ladder, followed by Danny and, a little later, Richard, who was looking at the ceiling paranoidly.

They all managed to get to the ground safely, where it was even darker than it had seemed from above. Charmander's light didn't shine further than their hands could reach, making it even more scary, especially for the claustrophobic Richard.

"Do you think this part of the mountain is safe?", Richard asked nervously.

"Yeah I think so. Raider wouldn't have let us gone any further if it wasn't so, right?", Danny reacted, trying to put his best friend at ease.

"Charmander, you go ahead and lead us."

A small growl confirmed that Charmander had heard the command and had started walking.

Richard didn't feel at ease at all. Since he had been stuck in Mt. Moon as a little boy, and the incident yesterday, his fear started to get a life of its own in here.

Suddenly, Charmander growled loudly and started running.

"Charmander, hold on!"

The two boys ran as fast as they could to stay near Charmander's light. Luckily for them, their larger legs had no trouble keeping up. But, with the uneven ground it was not the easiest track. Lose rocks, roots and other stuff was scattered over the ground and it was difficult to not trip.

"Charmander, please slow down!", Danny tried again, while narrowly avoiding tripping over a larger rock. Meanwhile, Richard was just running, his eyes locked onto Charmander's flame. Not letting go to look down or even to blink.

What they didn't know was that Charmander had heard a screech that was undetectable for the human ears. It had attracted his attention and the Fire-type recognized it as a cry for help, so he had no choice.

Charmander made a turn and ended up in a larger hall. The ceiling was higher and the walls further apart. The darkness was still the same, a variable that seemed to be permanent in the mountain.

Danny and Richard caught up to the Fire-type when he had already found the sender of the distress call.

It was made by a small Zubat, laying on the cold cave floor. Charmander waved his tail over it so the two guys could see it as well. The Poison type wasn't moving though.

"Is it dead?"

"I don't know, it doesn't look very alive to me either."

Danny would soon come to regret those words, as they made him decide to pick up the Zubat, something the, very much alive, creature didn't appreciate.

"AAAH!" The Poison-type pierced its teeth into Danny's finger, causing blood to spill out.

"It bit me!"

Out of reaction, Danny dropped the Zubat, who flapped its wings to stay in the air, but failed to do so and hit the ground.

"Well I guess it is still alive", Richard reacted.

Danny was waving his hand to shake off the pain. "You think so?", he reacted cynically.

The Zubat was desperately trying to get back up in the air, but seemed to fail at every attempt. It got up, but dropped down just as quickly.

"Maybe it can't fly?", Richard asked out loud.

"It's a Zubat, of course it can fly. They learn how to fly the second they hatch."

Danny had placed his bag onto the ground and started looking for something to wrap around his finger, which was still bleeding. In the front pocket he found some bandage.

"Judging by how it is desperately trying to stay in the air, I don't think it can. It kinda looks how you would look if you would try to fly."

"Ha ha, very funny."

Charmander sat down onto the hard ground. This travelling thing was fun and all, but the jokes between the two trainers were already getting annoying.

Zubat screeched as it tried again, this time getting higher than before.

Danny made a 'You see I was right'-sign, as Zubat seemed to be getting balance, but it couldn't maintain it. It fell back to the ground once again. Danny had no choice but to agree with Richard, this Zubat couldn't fly.

Scared of the two humans, the Zubat had no other choice than to crawl away.

"Let's leave it", Richard suggested. "It's scared of us and still a wild Pokémon."

Danny nodded. He had finished wrapping the bandage around his finger. He gestured Charmander to get up and to start walking again, when they heard a sound coming out of the dark.

"We have company, get down!", Danny screamed as he dived onto his knees.

Out of the dark, a large group of screeching Zubat came flying by. Both boys placed their hands over their ears to protect them from the agonizing sounds.

"Maybe they are its friends?", Richard yelled.

Danny turned his head to see the grounded Zubat. One of the flying ones went down and picked up the Poison-type. For a second it seemed like they would take it back to their home, safe and sound.

Nothing seemed further from the truth though.

When the two were in mid-air, the flying Zubat dropped the other one back onto the ground. The smaller Zubat tried its best to stay in the air, but failed again.

The other Zubat seemed to enjoy that, before continuing on. Within a few seconds, silence had returned to the cave.

"Now that is just mean", Danny reacted.

Richard nodded.

"But there's nothing we can do, that's nature."

"Screw nature, I'm gonna help this little guy."

Richard, who had started moving in the opposite direction, stopped.

"What? How do you want to teach this Zubat how to fly when you can't fly yourself?"

"I might not be able to fly, but I know someone who can. Come on out Beedrill!"

The Bug-type was surprised to be released into the almost pitch-black cave. The only thing it saw was Charmander's tail, until Beedrill's eyes adjusted to the dark, which was a lot quicker than the eyes of humans. He wasn't really sure what to expect though, since his trainer had all kinds of odd things to do.

"Beedrill, can you help this little Zubat how to fly?"

Beedrill looked down towards the Zubat and nodded.

"Now Zubat, look closely at how Beedrill does it."

"Genius, Zubat doesn't have eyes", Richard reacted.

Danny was silent for a second. "Are you sure? Then how do they see?"

While the two boys were talking, Zubat did 'see' how Beedrill was flying, by using supersonic waves. It started to flap its wings similarly to Beedrill, which meant it had to flap them a lot faster than it was used to.

It flew higher than it had ever before, but grew tired. Beedrill's pace of flying was not something Zubat could keep up.

"It's going to fall!"

"Bellsprout, safe Zubat!"

Bellsprout emerged from a red light. He too had to adjust to the darkness, but could quickly distinguish the falling Zubat from darkness and used his vines to save the Poison-type.

"Well done", Danny complimented the Grass-type after Zubat was safely back onto the ground. "Too bad this didn't work."

With a sigh, Danny returned both Bellsprout and Beedrill to their Pokéballs.

"Maybe I can help you guys?"

The voice came out of the darkness. A middle-aged man walked into the hallway, apparently he was a hiker. His outfit consisted of climbing shoes, loose jeans and a big winter jacket, complete with a large hat on top. The hiker was a heavy-set man, with a small beard.

"I'm Rockney", he said with a wide smile, causing confusion among the two trainers.

"'Rocky'-ney?", Richard asked, which caused the man to laugh loudly.

"Yeah! Rockney's my name. My father was obsessed with stones. He lives in Pewter so that should explain it. I'm fine with my name, but my brother Stoneven has it worse haha."

His laughs echoed throughout the hall once again, causing some small pebbles to fall from the ceiling.

"But how can you help us?", Richard asked quickly, before Rockney's laughter would cause another collapse.

"Wow, calm down kid, I will help you. But, I first want to have a battle. We don't get many travellers here anymore, most use the road around Mt. Moon."

"There is a road around Mt. Moon?", Richard asked loudly, growing more angry throughout the sentence.

"Not that I know off!", Danny reacted, stepping back to avoid getting slapped by Richard.

"Well? Who will I be battling." Rockney let out a Geodude while he spoke.

"That will be Danny here", Richard growled as he stepped back.

"Fine, Krabby can use some extra training." Krabby shyly stepped out of the red light.

"Start with Tackle!"

"Krabby, use Bubble!" The second the battle started Danny felt the adrenaline coursing through his body. It didn't matter if it was a Gym battle or a friendly battle in a dark cave, the adrenaline was always there.

Geodude floated forward, but the super effective Bubble did its work. The Rock-type felt the water drops slide between the cracks on its surface, causing it to float back.

"Don't back down now, use Tackle again!"

"Dodge it Krabby!"

For the first time in his time with Danny, Krabby was faster than the opponent. It jumped to the right, easily avoiding the slower Rock-type, who had to use its two strong arms to not blast into the wall.

"Use another Bubble!"

This time the Water-type attack hit Geodude in the back, once again doing a lot of damage. Danny was positive it would be enough, but Geodude was not ready to throw in the towel.

"W-what? I thought two Bubbles would do the trick?", Danny reacted confused. Krabby, who turned around to look at his trainer, grew scared.

"Ha I figured you did." Rockney laughed again. "Use Rock Throw Geodude, show them what you are made of!"

Krabby didn't move, still anxious about what to do, and was hit hard by the incoming rock, causing the Crab Pokémon to fall down.

"Krabby!"

"It seems your Krabby can't take on a Rock-type", Rockney said, but Krabby disagreed. It used its claws to get back up, ready for the next command.

"That's the spirit, use Bubble again!"

"Geodude, dodge those!"

Rockney should've known better than to ask Geodude to dodge the attack, as Krabby was faster and the Bubble attack hit for a third time. This time it was too much for the Rock-type and it fell from its levitating position to the ground.

"Well it was worth a shot. Paras, you're up."

"A Paras, that's new", Danny said while taking out his Pokédex.

Burrows under the ground to gnaw on tree roots. The mushrooms on its back absorb most of the nutrition.

Not the perfect matchup for Krabby, Danny thought.

"Return Krabby, you did an amazing job."

Krabby returned, tired but satisfied with the victory.

"Charmander, do you think you can take on Paras?"

The Fire-type happily nodded and stepped forward, his tail swinging around in excitement.

"Use Ember!"

"Oh no, you won't defeat Paras that fast", Rockney reacted. "Use Stun Spore!"

"Danny cover your mouth, Stun Spore paralyzes!", Richard called. Both boys quickly placed their hands before their mouths, but Charmander couldn't. He breathed in the spores and felt his body suddenly shutting down.

"Now we have you where we want you, Paras use Scratch!"

"Dodge it Charmander!"

Charmander tried, but his muscles didn't react to the orders his brain sent. Helplessly, Charmander took the Scratch hit from Paras. Side effect of the paralyze was that the hit didn't hurt half as bad as it usually would have.

Meanwhile, Danny panicked. If Charmander couldn't move, he couldn't win.

"Try to use an Ember attack!"

But Charmander was still unable to perform any move. The only part of Charmander that was moving was the fire on the end of his tail.

Rockney showed no mercy and kept ordering Paras to use Scratch, which it did.

"This is going wrong, I need to switch back to Krabby."

"Charmander retu-" Charmander suddenly moved, a little bit, but just enough for Danny to know Charmander still wanted to fight.

Danny, as surprised as he was, tried to collect some words. "Try to use Ember."

Charmander tried his best. Inside, he felt the fire redirecting to his beak, not affected by the paralyze. All he had to do was open his beak. In front of him, he saw Paras come in for another hit, one of its claws already in position to strike. He tried even harder and managed to open his beak, just a little bit. But enough to let the embers out.

Paras' eyes widened as the fire hit it face on. The Bug-type fell back and was instantly defeated. Nothing does more damage to a Paras than a fire attack.

"You did it! Thanks Charmander, you deserve a long rest." And for the first time in days, Charmander was returned to his Pokéball.

Meanwhile, Rockney returned Paras as well. A bit disappointed with the loss.

"Now show me that Zubat", he said, quickly shaking off the negative feelings.

The three people walked towards the little bat Pokémon, who had been watching the battle from its lying position.

"I have an idea. Zubat, come on out", Rockney said.

"You have a Zubat as well?", Richard asked, causing Rockney to laugh once again.

"You two haven't been in Mt. Moon for that long, have you? Every square foot in this mountain is filled with Zubat. Frankly, it surprised me that neither one of you has captured one yet."

His laughter once again filled the room and the two boys had to suppress the inclination to cover their ears.

"Now Zubat, go fly right above the other Zubat, so it can see how you do it", Rockney ordered. "My guess is that it fell out of a Zubat nest and no-one tried to teach it properly. Usually the parents do this kind of thing, I've seen it done before."

Zubat noticed and started flapping its wings again, this time at the same pace that Rockney's Zubat did, making the same movements. It seemed to work, as it was more in balance. The second it realized this, it lost its balance and dropped down.

Danny jumped forward and was just in time to catch the Poison-type.

Zubat looked up and gave a look of appreciation. It had realized Danny had good intentions.

"Let's try it again", Danny said.

The Zubat nodded and flew up again. This time higher than before and longer, but it was not used to this and fell down again. Once again, Danny managed to capture it.

They kept this up for a while. Each time, Zubat managed to stay in the air longer. The muscles in its wing slowly started to get used to the feeling, until it looked like Zubat had never done anything other than flying.

It flew around the men and screeched happily.

"I knew you could do it!", Danny happily exclaimed.

They were just in time, because the group of Zubat had decided to have another round of laughs. They were visibly surprised to detect the Zubat in the sky.

The leader of this group, the one who had made the joke earlier, was visibly upset and went in for a fight.

"Why is it doing that..?", Richard asked aghast.

"I think it feels threatened", Rockney answered. "Or this Zubat was their toy to play with and it doesn't like the fact that the toy is now airborne."

The two Zubat flew around each other, calmly waiting for the other one to attack. The group leader used Supersonic, as a loud screech was heard. The beams missed Zubat though and it flew in to use what seemed like Leech Life. It bit down onto the other Zubat's main body.

This didn't do a lot of damage though, if anything it pissed the other Zubat off even more.

It was too close and the other Zubat attacked back. While with Leech Life, the befriended Zubat seemed to gain some energy, this attack was purely for the power of it, presumably a Bite.

The befriended Zubat fell down towards the ground. The wild one figured it was over and turned around to show off to the group. The friendly Poison-type had other plans and flew back up, tackling the Zubat as hard as it could.

"That's enough!", Rockney called out while he threw a Pokéball. It hit the leader and almost immediately clicked, indicating the capture.

Richard and Danny were surprised by the sudden twist of events.

"You already have a Zubat, why do you need a second?", Richard asked.

"Ha, my brother wanted one. He spends his entire life in caves and, just like you, can't seem to find a Zubat", Rockney answered while laughing.

The befriended Zubat flew towards the group. The Zubat flew around it and seemed to accept it immediately. Zubat hold less of a grudge than most people do. One Zubat even seemed to be more intimate with the friendly one.

"I think it's time we get going", Danny said with a smile. The other two guys nodded, but Zubat hadn't forgotten about its new friends.

He left the group and flew towards the men.

After all, Danny and Richard were horrible with their map.

Later

It took them a few more hours, but Zubat managed to guide them out of the mountain. Sometimes it rested upon Danny's shoulder a bit, but it was able to fly longer and longer.

And finally, they saw the light of the outside world again.

"Thanks for the guidance Zubat, good luck with your flying", Danny said as they walked towards the sunlight.

"Yeah thank you, I'm glad to be out of there", Richard added.

Zubat screeched as in goodbye and flew back towards its group, somewhere deep inside the mountain.

"Look there!", Danny shouted while tapping Richard's shoulder.

He pointed towards the skyscrapers of Cerulean City, already visible. It were two buildings, but it did give Danny the chills. His next Gym battle was there.

Richard, on the other hand, was already happy to be outside of the mountain again. While being busy with Zubat, his fear had taken the backseat. But when the Bat Pokémon was guiding them towards the entrance, it had returned.

Luckily Mt. Moon was the only mountain in Kanto.