Off The Beaten Route

by Cloud Link Zero

Rookie trainer Eric Kisaki finds himself in an interesting position. Unable to get his starter until after the League Conference ends, he tries to go a different route in hopes that he can stand alongside his rivals who have their head start. Except his route comes with conditions, ones that will test him in ways he never thought in order to become the best that ever was in Johto.

3. Over the Mt Moon we go!

Pokemon: Off the Beaten Route

Chapter 3: Over the Mt. Moon we go!

Vermillion City Police Department

It had been half a day after his second nap when the doctor that had been assigned to him said he was clear to leave. The afternoon sun was high in the sky and people were milling about in the bustling port town of Vermillion. It was actually bright enough that he had nearly blinded himself from being both under the night sky and then under the much dimmer fluorescent lights of the building. It felt a little awkward being on his own now, but he was informed that Chloe had been picked up by her father and was going to be at the Cherise Lab for the afternoon. Along with the fact that Chloe's dad had footed all of his medical bills not covered by the League insurance all trainers are to be given.

Normally it would cover a wide variety of things involving accidents with pokemon and battles associated with them. A notable loophole however was a fight between two humans. Rocket or not, it was still a flaw and he had apparently would have been looking at a bill of tens of thousands of pokedollars due to needing an injection of specially modified Ditto cells that had been specifically raised to copy humans down to a base level to ensure a successful sample harvest which would in turn ensure a full recovery with minimum aid needed afterwards. He was still going to be sore and aching for a few days, but he had a clean bill of health and still financially secure.

Which meant that he had nothing to stop him from going on a walk towards the Police Station. He still had to give his report to the local Officer Jenny and he had to find a way to see if he could convince the Teddiursa he rescued from the Rocket to join him. The other option was to have it go to a rehabilitation center, which could sometimes cause more harm than good. It was well known after the League's last crackdown that several of the centers were actually fronts for Team Rocket to experiment and steal more pokemon from unsuspecting trainers. There had been plenty of videos showing the consequences of a rehab center gone bad.

The other thing that could happen was that it could not be rehabilitated and if so, then the pokemon would have to be put down for both its own sake and the sake of everyone else around it. Should it evolve into an Ursaring that had considerable trauma attached to it a very bad situation could occur in the wild needing Pokemon Ranger intervention.

He didn't want to see it suffer more than it already had. That much he had decided while he was resting. So when he walked inside the station, he was ready to do what was needed. It was a fairly open spaced area considering criminals and their pokemon were both sent here on a fairly regular basis. If not by being caught doing crime, then being caught by the Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, for doing something very stupid that was basically the same thing in the eyes of the law.

The receptionist apparently recognized him right away as he was immediately directed to an interview room where the local Jenny would meet him. He had passed by other officers and the usual pokemon which were associated with them. That meant mainly Growlithe but there were other types of pokemon known to be both loyal and durable milling about as well. He had no doubt that there were also psychic types available for the ones that didn't want to talk easily.

Following the instructions, he entered a modest, white room with a simple table and two chairs posted in the center of it. He sat on the one further from the door since he didn't want the Jenny to think he'd try to make any breaks for it if he was closer to the exit. It wasn't long before the woman herself appeared, dressed in the typical Kanto uniform of blue that matched her hair color with red and black straps along some gold buttons.

In her hands were a pokeball and a stack of paper. She placed the paper down on the table along with a pen that was hidden on her person before she turned around and locked the door for privacy.

"I want to reiterate, you are not in any trouble. What you did was self-defense no matter how someone might try to say otherwise. Your life and the life of your traveling companion Ms. Cherise were in danger and admittedly, running in the woods during the middle of the night would be asking for further trouble you both would be unable to handle. There are some pokemon in there that want to be left alone and would not have hesitated to attack you if you crossed into their territory." She started off as he picked up the pen.

"There are two things that I do need from you, however. I need your exact statement in your own words how to best describe what happened and…" she paused to place the pokeball down on the desk. "...to decide the fate of this pokemon. The abuse on it makes it look like its old trainer might have slightly abused it as well. Sadly it is all too common for rookie trainers to try and skip steps to power and do what is known as level grinding. The KinJoh power index is just that, a way to quantify something so we can anticipate with a decent chance on when that pokemon could evolve."

A small sigh came to her lips as she sat down on the other chair, crossing one leg over the other and tapping a gloved hand against her arm. "Unfortunately, some take it too literally and throw their pokemon into multiple fights over and over in a short period of time. That means they have no time to naturally grow or learn their own attacks. They aren't able to focus and channel their energy properly and could lead to a rushed evolution, which would not have the same gains as a pokemon that was allowed to focus and harness their strength over time. Forcefully evolved pokemon will always have some kind of issue, be it physically or mentally. I should hope that me saying this means I expect you to not be the same if you convince the pokemon to join you."

It was both a warning and thinly veiled promise that he would be the next in cuffs if she got any hint of pokemon abuse from him. That was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment, but he gave her a simple nod of his head to show he understood the warning. With his assurance, she pulled a pen out of her pocket and handed it over to him and he began to write his statement.

As he did, he winced slightly as looking at everything in the long run, it really seemed like everything he did was the actions of an adrenaline fueled junkie, which he was not. Flinging a Meowth, punching someone in the face that was older and stronger than him and kicking the guy in the nuts. It really did sound like something out of a Pokewood action flick. He was no Kid Riolu though and that was no villain of the movie either. All of it was very much real and he had mercifully managed to live through the experience. It was not something many could attest to.

After roughly twenty minutes of straight writing, he set the pen down and rubbed at his sore wrist, moving it in circles to ease up any possible cramping and getting more blood flow going. Officer Jenny, who had patiently waited the entire time, gave a nod and looked over the papers.

"Once again, I must reiterate what you did was the height of recklessness, even if you had little choice in the situation. Should you ever come across Team Rocket again and I pray to Arceus that you don't, please make sure to run and use that Rotom Phone of yours to activate a distress signal." She informed him.

Eric tilted his head to the side at that. "There's a distress signal function? I know that it told me it could make calls in case of emergencies but not a distress signal." He told her.

Officer Jenny leaned forward and looked him in the eye. "You did not hear this from me, but my cousins and sisters from the other regions all put their resources together to put up a region wide distress beacon on all electronic calling systems on the market recently. The old faction that have a little too much sway for my liking calls it ridiculous and goes against the tradition of 'building yourself from scratch in the face of adversity' like the trainers of old." She responded, even using air quotes at something she had heard far too many times.

"Champion Lance did this under the table after what happened four years back. Nobody wants a repeat of trainers constantly going missing or dying due to Team Rocket's handiwork. As your phone is also a pokemon, it can automatically set it off if it thinks you're in mortal peril and it'll go to the nearest Ranger or ACE trainer station. They can immediately teleport to where you are with a League registered pokemon that knows the move to assist. We've saved well over several thousand lives across these four years. I'd rather not see you being the one we couldn't save."

The fact that his Rotom Phone hadn't done that from the outset means that it was missing that function for sure, otherwise last night would have gone far differently and probably would've ended with far less fuss and muss.

"After this I'll have your Rotom Phone download the application." Officer Jenny promised before standing up and holding the scuffed pokeball of the Teddiursa he had inadvertently saved.

She tapped it once and it came out. Eric wasn't one to really get to emotionally invested in everything, but seeing its confused and scared eyes pulled at his heartstrings. To hopefully calm it down some, he got on a single knee and reached into his pocket. Back at the hospital, one of the Chansey nurses had given him a small jar of honey to go along with some snacks that they had brought. He didn't use it, but the Chansey insisted he take it anyways.

Pokemon were truly smarter than they appeared to be.

He tugged the lid of the jar open and placed it just at the edge of his arms length. "I won't hurt you, but I know that you might have a hard time trusting me. So please have some of this honey as a gift as a show of sincerity." He told the pokemon in a calm voice.

The trainer could practically hear the growling of the Teddiursa's stomach and it made him wonder when was the last time it had a proper meal. It actually flinched back when he had placed the jar down, like it was expecting a trap of some sort. When nobody had moved for over a minute, the pokemon slowly began to inch forward and once it reached the jar, it snatched it up in its claws thinking it would get taken back.

Once more, the silence of the police officer and trainer made the Teddiursa relaxed enough that it could comfortably began to eat the honey. It wasn't really much, just a few ounces, but the way the creature was shoving it into its mouth made it look like it was worth its weight in gold.

It even went the extra step of licking the inside of the jar clean before it was put down. That was when the trainer reached forward with an open hand. Once more, the pokemon flinched, but not as heavily as it had earlier. Instead, it looked at his hand with confusion.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you. You've been under some bad people that might have said and done bad things to you, but I'm not like them. Many humans are not like that. You're a brave and strong pokemon, Teddiursa and I want to see you rise up and live to your species strength and potential. That can only happen if you let me." Eric explained slowly and clearly.

The pokemon weighed his words against the actions it had been through previously. Yes, it had been hurt before by a person that kept making it battle over and over even when it was tired and hurt. Then the second person used some kind of long, flexible weapon to attack it when it didn't want to fight.

After that a female human had looked after it and washed it and bathed it. Made sure it was ok. The female couldn't give him food at that moment as another female talked to her, but then it was brought here.

There was no hurting, just the comfort of honey which it had not had in a long time. The comfort of words spoken softly, rather than demanding. It was wary, but the human in front of it was correct. No two humans were alike.

Slowly, it moved forward until its paw was placed in the humans hand.

Eric gave the Teddiursa a comforting smile, a light shake and then then rubbed its head with his hand. It quickly melted under the affection.

"I think it'll be fine." He told Jenny.

The officer was silent for another minute but eventually she nodded. "I think so too. As such, I'll disable this pokeball so it can be freed from its register number and you'll be provided with a special pokeball to contain it in." She stated as she tapped and held onto the central button of the scuffed pokeball. The normally red light turned blue and when it touched the Teddiursa, it was not absorbed back into the ball, but rather the ball itself stayed open after it unregistered ownership.

The moment that was done Jenny quickly snapped the pokeball in two before she once more reached into her pocket and pulled out a shrunk pokeball and tossed it to the trainer.

He noticed that it was dark black with yellow and red circles going across the top and bottom.

"It's a luxury ball. Normally they cost a pretty penny but the League wants investments in building up back trust between an abused pokemon and a new trainer. This one is purposefully designed to give off small sound waves which comfort the pokemon whenever it is in the pokeball under stasis." She explained before placing it in his hand.

Eric looked owlishly at the black, red and gold pokeball. It suddenly had a lot more weight to it than he was expecting. Though that was not going to stop him from using it as he pressed the middle button to enlarge it before placing it in front of Teddiursa.

"Alright. All you have to do is tap the button and then I can take you with me." he said as he gave it a few more pets on the head and then stood back.

The pokemon eyed the pokeball warily and it had every right to do so. The humans knew there were bad memories associated with the regular variant all things considered. It stared for a few more moments before pressing the middle button. After that a golden beam struck the pokemon and the pokeball opened up to take it in.

There was no struggle that normally came from wild pokemon battles. It was accepted immediately and Eric scooped it up before attaching it to his magnetic belt. It was not how he expected his fourth pokemon, but he would not be complaining about it anytime soon.

Officer Jenny gave a small sigh as she picked up the now empty honey jar and placed it on the table. "Professor Elm also wanted me to state that this capture will not be counted against your limit for the regional journey you're on due to the circumstances both you and the pokemon have gone through." She informed him.

Before he could respond, his Rotom phone appeared from his pocket. "Capture confirmed, bzzt! Would you like to learn the basics of your new pokemon?" It asked.

Officer Jenny immediately swiped the phone out from the air and began to fiddle with a few applications on the screen.

"T-trainer Eric, help bzzt! I am being bad touched!" It warbled.

Eric could only sigh at that. "I'm guessing you've been browsing Totoole to learn about that while I was unconscious. Don't worry about it. Officer Jenny is just installing an application that's been approved for usage by you at your own discretion if you feel like my life is in immediate danger." He explained to the pokemon that was desperately trying to wiggle out of the Jenny's firm grasp on it.

It was that reassurance which had it stop struggling so much and allowed the officer to finish what she was doing without interruption. "It was because we were so far out of range of cell service, even with myself being an electric type pokemon that you nearly died, bzzt. If this helps protect you, I will use it accordingly." It stated.

He wasn't sure if the pokemon could actually feel it, but he gave the 'head' of the phone a gentle pat before it was handed back to him.

"That should about cover it. You're free to leave the station now. Professor Cerise will be expecting you at his lab before the end of the day so if you have any other supplies you want to get in town I suggest going now." Officer Jenny told him as she looked at a wristwatch she had on before leaving the room, leaving the trainer to his thoughts.

Though he knew that nothing was broken or missing, Eric definitely felt like getting a few extra things wouldn't hurt, but that would depend if he was really going to continue traveling with Chloe. He began to make a mental checklist of a few extra things that he could probably get when his Rotom phone once again spoke up.

"Would you like to know about your new pokemon now, bzzt?"

"Oh, uh...yeah. Please."

The Rotom flew up to him and presented the screen, showing an image of Teddiursa. "Teddiursa, the Little Bear pokemon. Its paws are soaked in oodles of honey. When nervous, Teddiursa will lick its paws and soon have a smile back on its face. This Teddiursa is male, it's KinJoh power index indicates a level of seventeen and it knows the moves Fling, Covet, Scratch, Baby-Doll Eyes, Lick, Fury Swipes, Payback, Sweet Scent, Crunch and Facade. This Teddiursa has the ability known as Pick Up and its nature is Quiet." It listed off.

All of the information told the trainer a few things. One, it had a TM shoved onto it, as the Teddiursa line did not know Facade. Two, the move Crunch indicated that this one was not bred between two Ursaring, which was common in the wild, so it was most likely a day care pokemon or a specially bred one. The last thing was the nature being Quiet. That was the most likely reason it...his first trainer abandoned or abused him. Pokemon with that nature tended to value moves that harnessed energy, rather than raw strength which was what the Ursaring line was very much known for.

It disgusted him that the first trainer probably was trying to pump his KinJoh index up just to overcome that disadvantage that he would never be as powerful as others whose natures lent them more tendencies to enhance physicality over mentality.

"I won't be that kind of trainer." he swore to himself as the Rotom phone, finished with the explanation, flew back into his pocket.

As he started to keep walking, he soon found himself bumping into someone.

"Oh, excuse...me…" He began to apologize as he looked at the person in front of him, only to lose his voice when he found that he was not only facing someone taller, but the army fatigues they wore clearly showed that he was in the presence of the Gym Leader of Vermillion City, Lt. Surge himself.

The man had a bit of an intimidating aura and it was for good reason. The man lived through one of the worst wars in modern history, before the regions were fully united and it was his electric pokemon that both saved him and taught him how to be ruthless.

With a quick glance downward, Lt. Surge saw Eric fully and a sharp, almost feral grin came to his face.

"So, you're the one who took on the Rocket with his bare hands. Gotta hand it to you runt, you got balls. More than most of the other so called 'trainers' that come to my doorstep every league run." He said, his voice sharp and commanding.

The younger man had to call in all his willpower to not quake at the presence of a known 'Rookie Killer', a gym leader who gave everything they had in gym battles regardless of badge level and the appropriate pokemon and league movesets allowed.

There was at least one in each league between the first to fourth badge range. Kanto was a bit unique in that the first three gym leaders in the traditional circuit run: Brock, Misty and Surge were considered extremely hard to newbies if they did not have a grass or fighting type on them by the time their respective gyms were reached. As the only grass type between Pallet Town and Pewter City was the starter pokemon Bulbasaur, one had best pray a family member would gift them a grass type or they found the occasional Mankey that wandered between Viridian City. If said trainer couldn't and got a lucky win, then Misty would inevitably clean house due to using water and psychic types unless a Pikachu had been found in the Viridian Forest or a well balanced team had been raised to cover weaknesses.

Then came Surge and the kids gloves were off. Full powered thunder and thunderbolt attacks were well known to both fly and fry opponents pokemon to unconscious quickly. If he was particularly prickly, he would sometimes ban weaker opponents from challenging him again for the rest of the League circuit, requiring the luckless trainer to beat two minor gyms nestled throughout Kanto, with minor gyms needing two badges to carry the same weight as one from a major gym.

If one could best him without getting assistance from the pokemon in the nearby caves or any of the rock types that littered Mt. Moon, then they were considered near shoo-ins to compete in the Pokemon League.

As it was, Eric wouldn't be able to fight Surge until his second gym circuit when the rules were more lax on where in the KinJoh area one could go for their League run, but he would also already be considered an eight badge trainer. By then, Surge would run his true team on him. Those that went against THAT and walked out with a badge was very, very low for a good reason.

So by sheer reputation alone the trainer slash researcher assistant had every reason to be intimidated.

"Walk with me kid. I'll take you to the Pokemart and then the lab. Though before that, here." Surge told him before dropping three pokeballs into his hand. Eric was surprised to see that the gym leader had his entire team with him.

"Marcy told me to take them to you or else she'd give me a real earful the next time I send a crying punk her way with a fried bird." The older man explained when he saw the trainers confused look.

Eric assumed Marcy was the first name of the local Nurse Joy that ran the pokemon center. They and the Officer Jenny's of each city tended to be on first name basis with the local gym leaders. Looking at the premiere ball which contained his newest catch not including his newly adopted Teddiursa, he quickly released it.

One burst of light later and the silver haired evolution pokemon shook off the feeling of stasis and looked at her new trainer before giving off a bark of query of why she had been released when she saw there was no other pokemon nearby to battle.

"Hey girl, just needed to see how you're doing. Last you saw me, things got...rough. Someone tried to attack your pack and I had to fight him off." He informed his teammate, whose eyes went wide before a vicious snarl that was quite unlike the Eevee line to make tearing from her throat.

"Don't worry, they're safe. The bad guy won't go after them again." His hand reached out and gently rubbed the pokemons forehead. Her raised hackles had slowly lowered with the soothing word and the gesture given. Though she also gave her new trainer a look of respect that was not there moments earlier for doing what he did at what could have been a great cost to himself.

She was not some young babe who had only hatched recently. She had been one of their up and coming defenders. She saw what her leader did to trainers woefully unprepared for what a bunch of Eevee's could truly do in self-defense. For a human to do so to another human, in her opinion took guts.

Surge, who had been watching the entire thing with a look seemingly carved of stone, gave a small grunt of approval as the trainer scooped the Eevee into his arms and began to walk towards the pokemart.

"I know you were given an individual reward for what you did. If it were up to me I'd also reward you with a pokemon whose is the child of one of my true team, but since you're a Johto native those old fossils up top wouldn't hear of it. If you drop by here next year though and impress me, I'll see about keeping one of the Elekids around if you need some extra electric firepower." Surge promised and instead pulled out a Rotom phone and pressed a few buttons on it.

"As it is, I've sent you a monetary reward separate from what Selene gave you. The Rocket whose brain is now mush had a bounty on him. Not a high one, but he's been on our watch list for attacking the trainer whose Teddiursa you picked up."

The mention of the other trainer put a scowl on his lips. "That Teddiursa...his old trainer decided to 'power level' it. His nature didn't match the lines raw aggression and the trainer wanted to compensate for it." Eric said, nearly spitting on the sidewalk as he said it.

This caused Surge's muscles to bulge slightly, the only outward sign of any real emotion. "Oh did they now? I found it suspicious as to why they didn't try so hard to put out an alert for the pokemon. I don't take too kindly to those that try to rush things. I used to do it myself and I got my eyes opened to what I was missing by doing it. That was a mistake I won't be making twice." The older man's promise affirmed Eric's own internal thoughts that for all his aggression, the gym leader was a good person overall. Just that true to his chosen type, he tended to only have two speeds; One and One Hundred with nothing in-between.

With that being said, the two went into the Pokemart where the trainer slash research assistant was given free reign over the 'no-badge' part of the store. It was well known that without Pokemarts limiting selections to those that have proven themselves as trainers via their badges or if they were part of the police or government, nothing would stop some rich person from buying out all the best stuff and getting themselves killed in a pokemon catching flight of fancy and merchandise others desperately needed spoiled and ruined.

He grabbed several potions, cures for conditions like burns, poison and paralysis and some extra pokeballs, in case he needed to throw one just to distract an attacking pokemon for a few moments to get away if things were going bad.

Something that he also went for was a few more camping supplies, one of which was a special lamp that dripped liquid repel based scents across an evening for several meters. It was good for trainers expecting to hoof it outside for awhile so they didn't wake up surrounded by curious bug types or pokemon in general. There was also the worst alternative in being ambushed by night predators. The other things grabbed were disposable raincoats, some rations and extra canteens for drinking water.

Satisfied with everything, he went to the check-out where Surge waived the fee and charged it to the Gym account.

Once everything was put in its respective compartment, the two were quickly jogging back to the Cerise Lab. As he had been out for several hours, Eric had felt a bit stiff and sore in several places and needed this to help get the blood pumping in his body again.

When they had reached the base of the stairs leading up, Surge patted the young man on his shoulder. "You're always welcome here in Vermilion, Cadet." He said, giving him the equivalent rank he'd get in the military for just joining. With that, Surge began to jog back to the city before breaking into a rather impressive sprint, releasing a Jolteon that seemed eager to race him.

Looking at the Eevee that had been patiently waiting in his arms the entire time and before ascending the steps, Eric paused before sitting on bottom one and pulling out his Rotom Phone slash Pokedex.

"Alright girl. First things first. You need a name for us when we battle. There are plenty of other trainers with your own species, so this is to make sure you know I'm referring to you." He explained.

A small yip of understanding was given as he had the Rotom hover in front of them and pulled up an image of all of Eevee's various evolutionary paths. The fire type, Flareon. The water type, Vaporeon. The electric type as seen with Surge, Jolteon. The psychic type, Espeon. The dark type, Umbreon. The grass type, Leafeon. The ice type, Glaceon. Finally, for now until the next one was discovered, the fairy type Sylveon.

"This is everything you can turn into. Whatever you choose, we will make training plans accordingly. As with some of them it depends on the time of day, or even knowing a certain move." He explained patiently to the curious pokemon.

Eevee's ears flickered as she looked from picture to picture. He imagined that she was imagining herself in each form. After a few minutes of contemplation, she had made her decision. Her paw went up and then tapped on the image of Umbreon.

It made sense since he saw last night that she was definitely lively despite the late time, not to mention he was sure part of this decision was out of spite of being taken out by a psychic type attack.

"Alright then, I have the perfect name for you. Artemis, an old Goddess name of the Moon and Hunting. Supposedly it came from a region near Kalos a long time ago, before the fall of the old kingdom. All we have these days though are just mythology books." He suggested and explained to her.

The Eevee rolled her head a bit, ruminating the name for a moment before giving an affirmative bark.

"Artemis it is." He said, petting her head and giving her a chin scratch, something she enjoyed greatly before he returned her to her pokeball.

Now that the naming was out of the way for now, as he knew Teddiursa was not anywhere close to being ready for a name change, he climbed up the steps one by one until he was staring at the double doors to the Cherise Lab.

Looking up, he saw the Gengar from yesterday sticking its head out of the building, though he could've sworn in that moment when their eyes met, fear was seen in the ghost types eyes before it ducked back in.

Shaking his head and thinking it was just his imagination, he pushed open the door and went towards the main hall. In the primary research lab he saw everyone was in a corner, where it almost looked like a light show was going off as various flames and sparks were going off one after another.

"This is incredible Chloe. This Eevee that Mr. Kisaki caught for you will jump research by years!" Professor Cerise cried out as he clapped in awe.

"Well...I...oh!" Chloe did not seem to like the praise directed towards her and when she had turned her head, she saw Eric coming towards them and practically bolted at him, jumping into his arms and nearly crying as she hugged him tight.

"You're ok! You're ok!" She sobbed as Eric tried to correct the weight imbalance to prevent the both of them from falling, not expecting the girl to fling herself like a missile at him.

"Mr. Kisaki!" both Talia and the Professor also called out his name when they saw Chloe running towards him. Soon enough, the young man was pulled into a group or family hug depending on how one saw it.

"Thank you! Thank you for keeping our daughter safe!" Talia kept repeating.

"Team Rocket, this close to us...if you hadn't been there. Young Man, even though we footed your hospital bill, saving our daughter has us in your debt." Professor Cerise added.

Overwhelmed by the attention, all Eric could do was calm Chloe down by gently patting her back to assure her that he was ok. "I...we should have just run, but honestly, I feel like I put her and myself in even more danger by standing and fighting." He told them.

Both parents shook their heads in disagreement. "You would've had a higher chance of getting yourself killed. Scyther and Persian colonies like to nest deep in those woods. It was dark and you didn't know the way back. Fighting back was honestly the best choice." Professor Cerise rebutted.

Eric felt like his nearly crushed throat would beg to differ as he could still feel the phantom pain of that whip around it but kept his mouth silent. What had happened, happened and there was nothing he could do to change it. After all, he was no Celebi, Dialga or Arceus. He he was incapable of turning back time. The only thing he could do was live in the then and now.

"If you say so. I saw that you were talking about the Eevee I had captured for Chloe though?" He said, trying to change the topic around from that uncomfortable time.

"Oh yes! That Eevee is truly a unique specimen of its species. It saw some of our lab pokemon using their moves for research purposes and suddenly its tail lit up with the same color as the element being used before it just...made a move of its own." The Professor quickly babbled about how this unique phenomenon could be that of an Eevee of sorts where the creature itself does not need to evolve, but rather its unstable DNA adapted to copy everything to make its own, powerful variant with none of the drawbacks."

While he could only keep up with some of that, an Eevee that could see and adapt to literally everything without needing to permanently evolve sounded genuinely terrifying. Normal types were normally restrained for the most part by the fact that they tended to be either frail but supportive or one trick brute force ponytas. One that had the speed of an Eevee, which could be quite fast and then slamming into ghost types that it would normally not hit by using a dark type move that was not bite or crunch could alter the course of many battles.

"It sounds like this should not really be shared...this is the kind of thing Team Rocket lives to steal." He nervously reminded them.

Professor Cherise's eyes hardened at the mention of the gang. "Don't worry, I will make sure only reputable people get this." He promised.

Looking back at Chloe, who was still clinging to him like an aipom, he gently rubbed the top of her head. "Is...does she even still want to come with me after what happened?" He asked, which made her cling to his shirt even tighter.

"Ironically, she was actually more insistent that she keep going. I think it was the wake up call our girl needed." Talia told him while slowly prying her daughter off of him.

"Oh...cause we really would need to get going today if we still want to make it to Professor Oak's lab. We can cut through Cerulean if we need to but we need to reach Mount Moon by a decent time." He noted.

Losing a day hurt their schedule for sure, but it was not impossible to get over.

"The best thing to do when you have trauma is to push past it...I wouldn't say the best of routes to go down but we can't delay you any longer." Talia muttered more to herself than to them.

"We'll bike there. No stopping, no running into pokemon that can stop us, at least the ones that live here." Eric assured her. The worst they'd run into would be the occasional flying types like a Pidgey or a Spearow that could feasibly keep up with them on a bike.

Though still slightly worried, both parents consented to let their daughter go and Chloe herself finally peeled away from him. She returned her Eevee into his pokeball and went to her room to grab her stuff. It took only a few minutes as she had not touched anything at all in her room making it easier to grab her things, save that she was now wearing a pair of spats so nobody could get a free show while she was cycling.

By the time they left, the afternoon sun was beginning to reach its zenith as they put their bikes together from their folded state and quickly mounted them. The last view they would have of the Cherise lab was Chloe's parents and some of the pokemon waving goodbye to them as they zipped through the streets of Vermilion.

It only took about ten minutes to get from the lab to Route 6. As Saffron was no longer under Rocket control, they could choose to cut straight through the city to get to Cerulean as it was more straightforward. Though the Underground Tunnel would be the less congested route, since it was usually meant for those that didn't want to go through the noisy city.

Trees, grass, trainers and pokemon were swiftly left behind, the sound of the spokes of their bicycle tires the only things in their ears as they swerved and swayed to keep their balance across the terrain. Cresting over the flatland and a small hill here and there, Eric pedaled closer to Chloe and just pointed to their North and Northeast to figure out where they were going. Two minutes later, Chloe had pointed to the Underground Tunnel, so they quickly both leaned to their right to move towards the alternative route.

The trip itself was longer than actually going from the city to the route itself, a good hour or so. They had to get off their bikes to actually enter the tunnel, but due to how it was generally empty most days of the year, they were allowed to bike inside.

"How come you didn't want to go through Saffron?" Eric asked as they entered through the double doors leading into the entrance.

"I've had plenty of time with big cities. For once, I want to go travel a different way." Chloe explained as they walked down the stairs.

Despite being empty, the lights were still brightly lit and welcoming to them so it wasn't long before they had hopped back onto their bikes and rode the twenty minute on foot trip to just five on their wheels thanks to the various gears on it. On such a flat road, they could easily zoom across at the highest gear, rather than the middle ground the bumpy dirt roads outside gave them.

After another jog up a flight of steps, they were already on Route 5. The giant oval shaped aquarium slash stadium of Cerulean City could be seen in the distance as the two stopped to drink some water before continuing on their journey.

True to his word, the two did not stop in Cerulean despite its natural, aquatic beauty with its many flowing and rushing rivers, nor the beaches and other attractions that drew in thousands from across the Regions each and every year.

Instead, their eyes were solely gazed at the behemoth spire of rock and stone that went past the city of water.

Mount Moon...one of the tallest peaks in all of Kanto and while it was already well tunneled into, nobody had ever actually seen its depths nor has anyone truly climbed up or across. Even Mount Silver, the mountain dividing the Kanto and Johto regions in two, had been thoroughly explored from top to bottom. Yet something always prevented people from challenging the depths of this one.

By the time that Eric and Chloe had reached the entrance, the sun had gone from its highest point and was slowly beginning to dip down. Nearly three hours of biking, most of it from passing Cerulean entirely to Moon had worn down their stamina, but they had definitely made up the time that it would have taken them to get there on foot.

"Well...nothing for it. Let's go." Eric stated as he took his first step inside. The brightness of the sun quickly gave way to a more dimly lit cavern, the lights set up for trainers and hikers to show the path deliberately not giving much light so as to avoid disturbing the Zubat colonies that made the mountain their home.

It made the path going through the mountain look more foreboding than it should have been, especially with the sun setting behind them. In fact, it wasn't more than a handful of minutes until the darkness was near engulfing even with the lights still shining all around them.

"Chloe, hold onto me. It's gonna be way too easy to get lost in here…"

The teen did not need to be told twice as she stuck close to him, the darkness feeling creepy and unnatural to her. She honestly wished he could release his Cyndaquil, but it was a very hard rule that fire type pokemon were not to be released in Mount Moon due to their bright flames disturbing the ecosystem just as much as search lights or flood lights. Even the move known as Flash was now a heavily restricted thing when going through caves ever since a careless trainer angered a whole column of Geodude that had been trying to rest. The racket they made ended up causing the Zubats in that cave to go berserk and they attacked the trainer and pokemon, viciously maiming the both of them.

Though in the darkness, there was also opportunity. Grabbing his premiere ball, he released it and out came Artemis, her silver coat slightly standing out in the light provided, but it was also sufficiently dark enough now that her Umbreon training could also begin.

"Alright, this will be our first test as trainer and companion, Artemis. Since you want to be an Umbreon you have to get used to the darkness; Take in its solitude, the quiet that it brings and be able to see through the void it casts." Eric said in a level voice.

The Eevee gave a quick yip and squinted as she tried to see through the dimming darkness ahead. Her ears flickered as they tried to pick up any kind of noise that she could hear. After all, she had been trained to be a fighter for her pack before her human had come along. Scouting was just another part of that.

"If anything comes along that is hostile, I want you to take down that pokemon that tries to challenge us by any means necessary or if its a bad human like the one that attacked us last night, go for worse. Sand Attack their eyes, Tackle their heads, Flail all around and on them if you have to. Being a Dark type means you're not playing strictly by the rules. You're toeing them for making sure what goes down, stays down." He instructed.

This got a much more enthusiastic nod from the Eevee. THAT was the kind of fights she could get behind. Already she had more pep in her step as she trotted along the gravel paved path. Though at least for the narrower tunnels, it looked like nothing would impede them. They did, however, have to climb up ladders since the path from Mt. Moon to Pewter ran though several various levels, being higher on the western side than it was on the eastern.

Rather than the darkness, it was more the lack of noise that was more disquieting than anything else. By now, having walked a good half hour through narrow corridors and up two flights of ladders, the two teenagers and pokemon would've thought they'd run into something by now. A geodude making a tunnel for itself, a lone zubat seeking out the local paras for a meal, anything. They didn't expect things like seeing a Clefairy, notoriously known for being pranksters but also for rarely if ever actually showing themselves in front of anyone either. There was just nothing but the echoes of shoes on rock and dirt.

When they reached a more cavernous opening, they had to blink and cover their eyes as light filled their vision. Though rather than the yellow, hazy artificial lights, they could see the white glow of moonlight poking through an opening in the ceiling. All three were in awe of the beautiful looking natural hole and Artemis herself was looking at her new namesake in respect of how mystical it looked in there compared to just being outside normally.

"Clefairy."

The quiet was broken by a pokemon cry. One that had the two human's eyes bulging out as Artemis quickly began to raise her fur in warning.

"Clefairy."

"Clefairy."

"Clefairy."

The one cry became two, then three, then more. From various openings and tunnels they could not see, the extremely rare and mystical pokemon known as Clefairy came out of hiding and began to bounce up and down in a perfectly circular dance while the moonlight lit up the place.

Quickly grabbing his Rotom phone, Eric set it to record what was going on and giving it the 'quiet' symbol of a finger to the lips so it wouldn't break the pokemons concentration. Chloe was doing much the same, but having her own Rotom phone taking pictures.

Fairy types were a relatively new 'type' of Pokemon, but not entirely new as a species. Their energy came from the world of belief, faith and the mystical. Not the expanded universe that psychic types drew their power from, nor the abyss which ghosts would go and come from. Fairies were legends and legends gained weight as their tales were passed on.

The pokemon belonging to this type were all known to be two things. Playful...and extremely vindictive. You could have a Sylveon helping you one moment and the next you woke up with all your berries gone simply because it became hungry and bored. They gave and took away boons as they pleased, but one thing all fairy types took seriously were promises. A promise to them was an oath that their powers could wax and wane from depending on if it was kept or broken.

They were, in a simple word, paradoxical. There was no truly understanding the mindset of a fairy, but acknowledgment that humans could be close to it. Closer than the other types of pokemon that currently were known to the world anyways.

The Clefairy of Mt. Moon had been documented before as worshiping anything that has to do with the Moon itself. Possibly due to the fact that they could not evolve without a Moon Stone, which was chunks of space rock containing mysterious powers that were far beyond comprehension. Though nobody could say for sure, what was known was that they did not like their rituals being disturbed.

It was easy to see why since all of them knew the move metronome. While it was entirely random what move could be used by activating it, nobody was willing to risk being caught in an explosion...or worse. So they all stood absolutely still as the Clefairy did their dance ritual, which was an enchanting sight to see. All of them were in perfect unison with each hop, clap and turn being in perfect sync. Even their voices became more and more harmonious as they began to cry out in turn, echoing louder and louder throughout the cavern yet not disturbing so much as a single pebble.

None of them could know how much time had passed, but once they were done, all of the Clefairy bowed as one before shuffling off to the holes and tunnels they came out of.

All but one.

"Cleffa!" Came a small cry from behind them. All five turned around to see the adorably tiny form of Clefairy's first form, known as Cleffa, waving to them with a smile on its face before it began to hop away as well.

"Oh my Arceus! It's so CUTE!" Chloe finally cried out as she began to run after it, seemingly mesmerized by it. Which was very, very unusual for the normally timid and easily frightened girl that Eric had known over the last two days. That was when the pieces of the puzzle had clicked in his mind and he bit back a curse.

"Artemis! After them!" He ordered and the Eevee immediately chased after them with the trainer nipping right at her heels.

The suddenly change in attitude, the way that she was seemingly outpacing both pokemon and trainer in a wild chase for another pokemon...it was all unnatural. The kind of unnatural that fairy types were known to sometimes bless people with that they find 'amusing' and so they can play 'games' with them.

Soon enough they were off the main path to Pewter's end and going deeper into the mountain. Turn after turn, corners leading into bigger and smaller paths. Some pitch black that Eric nearly smacked into a wall more than once if Artemis' barking and yipping had not cautioned him and set him back on the right path.

He himself was beginning to feel affected by whatever the fairy was doing as despite going on a full dead sprint for over ten minutes, he had yet to feel winded or even drained, all the while Chloe STILL managed to always keep just ahead of him that he could nearly touch the back of her braid but never quite reaching.

The Cleffa's cries, mischievous, playful and taunting alike echoed all around them as it encouraged them to keep up the chase, sometimes appearing altogether in an entirely different part of the tunnel that it had been a blink of an eye earlier, causing them to switch gears and follow.

Though the absolute worst part was when they had reached what looked to be a dead end cavern. The moment all their legs all touched the dirt, they suddenly just...weren't. Gravity had vacated the entire room, making the humans and pokemon float with no way of telling what was up or down as the entire room went almost pitch black, the darkness enveloping them.

Wildly flailing his arms, Eric tried to keep himself as right side up as he thought he could be as possible as he tried to reach Chloe...wherever she was. Though it took only a moment for him to quite literally bump into her...or at least he thought it was her. He had reached out and grabbed something that was human flesh at least.

While the trainer was unable to actually see in front of him, he could still feel something...squishy and soft. Pushing his hands forward he felt something that was...silky? That was when a gasp reached his ears and he was soon seeing stars and clutching his face in pain as he got Mudbray kicked by what was most definitely a shoe.

Though it was this pain and her gasp that seemingly caused the gravity warping to cease and they found themselves...right back where they had started. Quite literally, they were back in the cavern that they had seen the Clefairy in, standing right where they had been before Chloe had gone on her mad dash. The girl was now patting down her skirt, her face a scarlet red.

"You kick really hard." Eric muttered as he rubbed his face before he felt a tug on his pants. Looking down, he saw the Cleffa that had started the whole thing. It waved a stubby hand at him before tapping his leg again, a small and pink aura filling it before he was enveloped in that same pink glow. In mere moments, the pain of the kick had vanished. It had used Heal Pulse.

"Ohh...thank you." He said, remembering that manners towards fairy types was important. They respected that which respected them in turn. Though after it was done healing them, it yawned and hopped over to Chloe, who had squatted down to be more level with it.

"Cleffa, that as a very naughty thing you did. If you wanted to play, you could have just asked." She scolded very lightly, making the trainer look at her as if she had grown a second head at trying to command a wild fairy type of anything. Though to his ever growing surprise, the pokemon nodded before holding its arms out. With an ear to ear smile on her face, Chloe scooped it up and began to rock and cradle the pokemon to sleep, humming a lullaby all the while.

Artemis took that moment to grumble, making Eric remember that she was there and looking quite peeved at being unable to fight it. A quick shake of his head had the Eevee pouting but not everything had needed to be solved with violence.

When the Cleffa's breathing evened out and it fell fully asleep, that was when they had both felt it. An overwhelming presence that filled the entire room by just existing. While it was not suffocating, it was enveloping and making them feel the weight of its entirety.

Seemingly melding itself out of the ground, a very old if the wrinkles were to go by and very powerful Clefable hovered in front of them. Artemis immediately growled and was rewarded with a single wiggle of the older pokemons finger before it was suddenly returned to its pokeball and Tira came into his arms.

"D..did you just use metronome to perfectly use U-turn?" The trainer asked numbly. A coy smile was all he received in return before the ancient creature went and rubbed its hand against the spiky head of its fellow fairy. The Togepi just chirped cheerily as she tapped her stubby hands together. Turning around, it then went to observe Chloe and the Cleffa.

Now sweat and fear was beginning to fill up the teenager again. She knew from her dad's constant calls with Professor Oak that the Clefairy line were very family oriented and while she had just helped it get to sleep, the pokemon could easily interpret this as her attempt at taking the young pokemon. Would she like to catch it? She would, but not at the cost of her or her companions health. Her own Eevee would add nothing to that except even more tension most likely.

After staring at her for a few minutes, the creature slowly nodded and wiggled its two forefingers in tandem. Two rocks suddenly appeared in the air before the trainers, having them catch it out of reflex with one while the other held their baby pokemon. When they observed it more closely, they were awestruck at the fact that they were genuine moon stones, as the unearthly glow it gave off almost threatened to engulf them if they didn't close their hand into fists first.

This was a gift worth many times its weight in gold nuggets. Moon Stones were notoriously hard to find because of the fact that fairies tended to guard them zealously. Otherwise major corporations tended to find them with their vast resources, or gangs with the power of the black market.

Several powerful pokemon all relied on this little stone to evolve and it was not something either would take lightly. Being given the stone also had Chloe feeling like she had earned the approval to take the Cleffa in her other arm with her while Eric had earned its approval by not giving up the chase. Gently placing the evolutionary stone in her bag, she pulled out a simple pokeball from another compartment and gently tapped it against the sleeping pokemon. It did not resist the capture and it was now her own.

With its job done, the Clefable wiggled its fingers one more time. Both teens and pokemon glowed white before they vanished into thin air. It nodded, smiled and sunk back into the stone from which it popped out of, giving no sign it had ever been there in the first place as the moonlight slowly faded and darkness took over once more.

Mt. Moon Entrance – Pewter Side

Eric groaned lightly as he went from mountain cavern to the outside night air and with the starry sky suddenly being visible, giving him an intense case of vertigo for a moment as he tried to regain his equilibrium. Chloe was faring no better, not even getting a chance to celebrate her first capture on her own as her legs buckled and shook from the sudden teleportation.

Though just as lively as before, Tira continued to chirp, almost as if she was asking if it could be done again. After stumbling around like a pair of drunks for a minute or two, they finally managed to get a sense of up from down before Eric could safely return her to her pokeball and instead released Artemis again.

The silver coated Eevee had already been annoyed by the situation with the Cleffa and now it was steaming mad from the Clefable's antics as it snarled with full teeth visible.

"It's no use Artemis. It teleported us all the way outside. There's nothing else we can do anymore." He told her, which did nothing to soothe her foul mood in the slightest.

It was a good thing for her anger made her hyper aware of a nearby patch of grass rustling before she quickly, but gently tackled her trainer out of the spot he had just stood in.

"W-wha?!" He cried out as he fell on his butt, but the moonlight had him seeing a glint of purple before it flew by him completely.

A poison sting attack. More rustling grass caught their attention before a small, mammalian pokemon had come out. Its fur was a light blue and they saw darker blue spots on it. Its horn was small and pointed, but they could clearly see poison dripping from it.

"Nidoran female…" Eric muttered, surprised that one was so far from its colony. Usually it was the male Nidoran line that hunted and scavenged around for food to prove itself for a mate as they evolved.

This female Nidoran however was completely alone, but it stood ready to fight with a regal aura that could not be ignored and Artemis was more than up to the challenge.

Scrambling to his feet, the trainer prepared for battle by noting the tall grass around it was entirely devoid of other pokemon. Either this female Nidoran had a very mean streak that chased off any other rivals or they had just interrupted its hunt for food. Either way, he already knew what needed to be done.

"Sand attack! Blind it so it can't use poison sting on you!" He called out and Artemis yipped once before bounding straight at the fellow female mammalian. Her opponent snorted as she took aim with her horn and fired off more poison stings. Artemis quickly jumped to the left to avoid them before sliding sideways to a running stop, kicking up the dirt and sand all around it and quickly using her paw to throw a nice chunk of dirt into the Nidoran.

The female squealed in anger and indignation as even with her eyes somewhat closed and layered with dirt, used her ears instead to track Artemis and threw a scratch out at it.

"Artemis, dodge and use quick attack on its underbelly! It's the only safe spot, the rest is poisonous!" Eric commanded.

"Evoi!" She cried out as she lowered her head and shoved it underneath the Nidoran, making it squeal once more before with a burst of strength, the Evolution Pokemon tossed the Poison Pin Pokemon in the air just a few feet high. Though a few feet high was more than enough for Artemis to take aim, gather her energy and slam into the Nidoran's soft stomach at full speed, smashing it down into the grass and dirt.

"Alright Artemis! Keep it up. If you think she's getting a read on you, use Covet!" He instructed.

The Nidoran stubbornly righted itself and shook off the dirt from her eyes. She yowled in pure rage as she fired off poison sting after poison sting at the Eevee.

Artemis' eyes widened as she quickly ducked, rolled and jumped out of the way of multiple poison stings flying everywhere, as did Eric and Chloe who had hit the ground as stray shots were flung at them as well.

The Eevee tried her best to find a way to hit it again, but her opponent was not leaving another opening this time. So instead, it resorted to something else.

Taking in a breath and letting it out, she let her natural charm do the talking as she made her eyes seem big and deerling like, making her look less threatening and more like the Nidoran was kicking a downed Fidough.

The Poison Pin Pokemon didn't know what to make of this and took an uncertain step back, clearly uncomfortable, but the gleam in Artemis' eyes were seen in a single moment as stepping back had lifted the other pokemons fore-paw and once more, Eevee sent her foe slightly flying up before slamming it once again.

This time, the damage accumulated was becoming too much for the Nidoran as she weakly rose up but was already on her last legs. Whether it was from her being in a previous battle or not, Eric did not know, but what he did know was that currently he had a lot of heavy hitters on his team and he needed something more defensive or utility oriented and a Nidorina or Nidoqueen could take that role perfectly.

Grabbing a Pokeball, he was getting ready to throw it when the Nidoran tried one last desperate gamble.

She ran at full speed towards Artemis and her tail glowed a sickly purple as she attempted to stab it right into the side of the silver fur. Though Artemis herself had not lowered her guard yet and instead calmly moved to the right, letting her foe uselessly hit the ground before letting out a victory cry.

As she did this, Eric threw the pokeball and watched as the female Nidoran STILL continue to struggle against capture before it inevitably gave up the fight.

His Rotom Phone came out and immediately brought up a picture of his newest capture.

'Capture Recorded, bzzt! Nidoran , the Poison Pin Pokemon. Nidoran has barbs that secrete a powerful poison. They are thought to have developed as protection for this small-bodied Pokémon. When enraged, it releases a horrible toxin from its horn. It is female, of a Sassy Nature and its Kinjoh Index places it at level ten. It knows the moves Poison Sting, Growl, Tail Whip, Scratch and Poison Tail. Its ability is Poison Point.'

With his capture acquired and information gathered, he already knew what to name this little fighter. "Your name is Penthesilea. You fight like a warrior queen already." He muttered before Chloe finally stood up.

"I'm hungry, thirsty, tired...can we go to sleep yet?" She asked as she walked over to him and looked ready to drop.

Thankfully, the Clefable was nice enough to drop them off at the entrance of Mount Moon. They were already close to the Pokemon Center that was built right near it, but in their ambush they had completely forgotten it was there.

"...let's go there and get some rest, yeah." He said. His full second day of traveling and it was just as packed as the first. All the aches, soreness and pain was beginning to catch up to him at once as he returned Artemis and looked at the light glow that had been coming from his closed hand the entire time. Putting the Moon Stone in a safe compartment, he began to follow Chloe towards the Center.

"...I really hope this doesn't become the norm."

A/N: I still live! Nothing much to say here. I had this chapter about halfway written not long after the second one but I hit serious writers block. Thanks to a new friend of mine I was encouraged to push on through and brought you more 11k word goodness (at least on my computer).

Three new captures in a single day! These two are working fast.

Though with the next chapter, we finally make it to Pallet Town, where destiny awaits, along with the two people that will round out this team of four travelers. Hint, they're both female.

Once again, I do not own pokemon, just my OC. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and the Pokemon Company.