Every breath he took sounded like thunder to Ash as he ran. Whatever Team Magma were doing at the caves, he couldn't let them succeed.
The houses of Oldale town zipped by him. Soon, he was on the woodland trail that led to the caves. The trees cast shadows that fell across the track and something made a rustle in the undergrowth.
Brendan and May caught up to him. The three of them stood there for a moment, breathing hard.
May broke the silence by asking, "So, what do we do now?"
"We try and take them by surprise," Ash answered.
"Torchic's never battled before."
"Pikachu's only battled once," Ash reminded her.
Brendan's gaze was fixed straight ahead, "There seemed a lot more of them than us."
"We'll just have to outthink them," Ash said.
Pikachu gave a chirp, as if in agreement.
Ash stared down the path. Trees pressed in from either side until there was a turn in the track and he couldn't see any farther.
"Let's do this," he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
They started down the trail. Pikachu was silent, his little body tense.
They reached the bend. Ash peered around it. The path stretched out in front of him. At the far end, two or three Team Magma members clustered around the caves' entrance.
Ash ducked back around the bend before anyone could see him. "Some guarding the entrance," he told the other two."
"What's the plan?" Brendan asked.
"Pikachu and I will create a little distraction. You two go on ahead. We'll catch up."
"Good luck," Brendan said.
"Thanks, man."
Ash crept into the trees lining the path. "What do you think, buddy? Shall we give them a little light show?"
"Pika" The mouse's cheeks crackled.
"Three Thunderbolts, one after the other. Aim them at the top of the tree over there."
Electricity shot through the sky and hit the tree. A few leaves and splinters of wood tumbled down.
"Not bad, buddy. Think you can squeeze out a couple more just like that?"
A crack sounded as the bolt flew and hit the tree again. One of the Team Magma members looked up and then pointed to it.
Again Pikachu's cheeks sparked and again the crack sounded. Ash watched as the Team Magma members hurried past his hiding place.
Brendan and May emerged from the trees and ran down the path. Ash checked to see if the Team Magma members were still in the woods before sprinting out from cover and joining them.
The three of them entered the caverns.
Ash led the way along a rocky passageway. The only sounds were the echoes of their footsteps. Eventually, they came upon a large chamber. Several Team Magma members grouped around the paintings of Groudon and Kyogre. Nearby, Mr Taylor sat against a cave wall, ropes around his ankles and a cloth tied over his mouth.
"While they're not looking," Ash whispered, "we sneak over there and help Mr. Taylor."
Ash crept over, glancing Team Magma's way every so often to check that they were still occupied. Mr Taylor must have heard him because he glanced up.
Ash put his finger to his lips and untied the rope binding Mr Taylor's ankles. It took a while but at last, the ropes fell away.
"Can you stand?" Ash asked.
Mr Taylor nodded. Ash helped him to his feet. Just then one of the female Team Magma members glanced their way.
"Hey, what are you kids doing here!"
Ash turned to Mr Taylor, "Get to the chamber entrance. My friends will take you to safety. We'll hold these guys off for as long as possible."
Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder, cheeks sparking and crackling.
"Let's see how you and your rat deal with this, Kid, " the woman said as she threw a Pokeball, "Go, Zubat!"
A dark-blue bat-like creature emerged from the Pokeball.
"Deal with them, Zubat! Use Supersonic!"
A barrage of sound waves emitted from the creature's mouth. Ash's vision blurred and he couldn't tell up from down momentarily.
His vision cleared and he saw Pikachu shaking his head as if to shake the confusion and dizziness away.
"You okay now, buddy?"
The Pokemon gave an enthusiastic "Pika"
"Great! Now let's show them what we can do. Use Thunderbolt!"
A burst of electricity shot through the air and hit Zubat. The creature fell out of the air and hit the ground, unconscious.
"Good job, Pikachu. Now, let's get out of here before she can call out another Pokemon!"
###
In a room in Team Magma's secret base, a lean, bespectacled man sat behind a desk looking at some charts. He was dressed similarly to the other members of Team Magma, except that he wore no hood and his jacket had more of the appearance of a lab coat.
A beep sounded from the room's door and, without taking his eyes off the charts, the man called out, "Who is it?"
"It's Tabitha, sir. With a report on the Oldale mission."
"Enter," the man behind the desk said.
The door slid open and a heavy-set man entered.
"Report," The bespectacled man's attention was still on the charts.
"The Oldale caves did not contain any information on how Groudon reverts to its primal form, sir. In addition, three children caused some complications by investigating the cave-keeper's house. They were briefly subdued but escaped and engaged our people at the caves."
"Children?"
" Yes, sir. Probably coming up from Littleroot after having received Pokemon from Professor Birch "
"I see."
"What is to be done about them, Maxie, sir?"
"Nothing. They are mere children, after all. Deliberately targeting them, when they pose little threat to our plans, is not Team Magma's way."
"Yes, sir"
###
After a quick stop at the Pokemon Center, to get Pikachu checked over, the trio were back on the road. They passed through Petalburg since Ash planned to tackle the other gyms on the west side of Hoenn before taking on May's father, Norman.
The kids were soon in Petalburg Woods, where they planned to stop for a while to train their Pokemon and catch some new ones.
"What are you hoping to catch, Ash?" May asked as they sat in a shady clearing by a stream to eat a late lunch.
"A Tailow or a Shroomish," Ash answered, watching Pikachu roughhousing with Treecko.
"I really want to catch a Wurmple," May said, "A Beautifly or Dustox would be a good first start for building a contest team. Although, I'll settle for anything that isn't a Zigagoon or a Slakoth."
Ash knew why May wanted to avoid catching those Pokemon. Linoone and Slaking, the final evolutions of Zigzagoon and Slakoth, were Pokemon that Norman used to battle challengers at the Gym and May wanted to stand out from her father as much as she could. Using Pokemon that Norman was known for would just get her compared to him.
Ash could understand where she was coming from. Steven was known for using Steel-type Pokemon, especially his strongest and first Pokemon, Metagross. As a result, Ash was reluctant to catch any steel types himself. He'd become World Monarch his own way with his own Pokemon, not by copying his brother.
Just then, a rustling from some nearby trees and a dark blue bird flew out from between the branches with a white underside and red from forehead to chest.
"A Tailow!" Ash felt his heart leap, "C'mon, Pikachu! "
Readying a Pokeball, Ash jumped to his feet. Pikachu stopped playing with Treecko and darted to his trainer's side.
"One good Thunderbolt should do it," Ash muttered to himself, "Need to weaken the Pokemon but not knock it out to catch it."
Ash and Pikachu tracked the Tailow, Pikachu scampering slightly ahead of Ash. The bird came to rest on a branch a few feet in front of them.
Ash slowed his pace, picking his way through the grass to not step on anything that could make a noise and alert the Pokemon. Pikachu matched the boy's speed.
Ash caught his partner's eye and held up a hand. Pikachu halted.
"A good strong Thunderbolt," Ash whispered, "On my signal."
Pikachu looked up at Ash, tiny brown eyes filled with determination and understanding.
"Now."
A bolt of electricity carved through the air and hit the small bird. It winced, but other than that the bolt seemed to do nothing.
Ash blinked in surprise. Flying types like Tailow were supposed to be weak to electric-type attacks. This Tailow was exceptional. A fire of excitement lit itself in his heart. There was no way that he wasn't going to catch this Pokemon.
"Another Thunderbolt, buddy. And see if you can turn up the juice a little on this one."
Pikachu nodded. His small body scrunched up slightly and held that position for one, two, three, four, five seconds before unleashing a bolt of energy that Ash had seen only once before, back when they faced that pack of Mightyena and he'd evolved.
The bolt hit the bird. Another wince, longer this time, and a few blackened feathers but nothing more.
The bird whirled around, eyes fixed on Ash and Pikachu. It dived straight for them