Ash woke up in a darkness he could not see anything and as he looked around, he noticed a faint light illuminating the area. He then remembered what happened, he fell into a hole from the explosion holding Nidorino. "Nidorino!" called Ash as he started looking for Nidorino. "Ah!" responded Nidorino next to Ash as he started to get up. "I'm glad you're okay. Hope the others are, okay?" asked Ash, "Ritchie! Pikachu! Butterfree! Pidgeotto! Charmander!" Ash called out but heard no response from them as he got up and started looking around the cave, then he noticed a tunnel.

"That could be a way out. Let's go." Said Ash, as he started moving towards the hole then he noticed that Nidorino wasn't moving. "What's wrong?" asked Ash. "Ahh!" exclaimed Nidorino struggling to walk. Then he noticed that Nidorino was hurt on its leg and was unable to walk.

"Oh no Nidorino!" said Ash, he couldn't just leave Nidorino there, so he tried to return Nidorino to his Pokeball and started moving, there was no way of finding his way out of the cave, but he had to hurry and Find Pikachu and the others. As he was looking for a way out, he kept coming to dead ends then he heard a sound of someone moving around him and followed it then he found some little pink colored Pokemon. "Who's that Pokemon?" asked Ash taking out his Pokedex and scanning it "Clefairy the fairy Pokemon. Its magical and cute appeal has many admirers. It is rare and found only in certain areas."

"So that's Clefairy." Said Ash as he watched them moving carrying small rocks, one of the Clefairy notices Ash and cries out the others begin to notice him, and they start trying to run. "Wait!" said Ash, "I don't want to hurt you. I need your help!" The Clefairy look at him from their hiding places and look at him curiously. "See!" says Ash as he brings out his Nidorino, "my Pokemon is hurt, and we need to leave this place to get help. So please!"

One of the Clefairy comes over to Ash as he holds his injured Pokemon and looks at it then releases a pink light on Nidorino healing Nidorino. "Wow what's that move?" asks Ash and his Pokedex answers, "Heal pulse. The user emits a healing pulse that restores a Pokemon heal." "Wow! Thank you!" said Ash and his Nidorino jumps out of his hands and happily smiles at the Clefairy as they begin to talk to each other. The other Clefairy begin to come out and dance around Ash happily.

"Thanks for your help can you guys show us the way out of here?" asks Ash. The Clefairy nod and begin to continue down their path and they wave for Ash and Nidorino to follow them. They make it to a big cave and are shown a giant stone rock sitting under the moonlight with lots of small stones around it the Clefairy proceed to add their stones to the pile. "What is that?" asked Ash. There were dozens of Clefairy gathered around the place and they began dancing under the moonlight, one of them came over and pulled Nidorino to join them. As they all started dancing around the stone all touched it and bright light erupted from it blinding Ash.

Meanwhile

Ritchie had just woken up from the explosion and he looked around and he was surrounded by his Charmander, Rattatta, Spearow, Beedrill and Zubat, he also noticed Ash's Pikachu, Charmander, Pidgeotto and Butterfree but he couldn't see Ash and Nidorino. "Where is Ash?" asked Ritchie. Pikachu and the other Pokemon looked sad and looked over to where the floor gave way and he saw the area covered in boulders from the cave in. "Ash." Said Ritchie sadly, "we have to go deeper into the cave. Hopefully, Ash will find a way out the mountain." Ash's Pokemon were sad, but they nodded to Ritchie, and they started down the tunnel that Serena, Misty, and Seymour went into.

When they came to the exit, they saw that they were in a battle with Jessie, James and Meowth. Misty had her Staryu trying to fight back with swift and Serena had her Bulbasaur using vine whip and they were attacking two Pokemon Ritchie had never seen before, a big snake like Pokemon and a big floating Pokemon. "Who's that Pokemon?" asked Ritchie and he scanned them. "Arbok the cobra Pokemon. It is rumored that the ferocious warning markings on its belly differ from area to area. Weezing the poison gas Pokemon. It lives and grows by absorbing dust, germs and poison gases that are contained in toxic waste and garbage."

"Arbok use Iron tail!" said Jesse, Arbok tail turned silver and it launched itself at Staryu. "Weezing use gyro ball!" said James, Weezing body started glowing silver and it spun quickly at Bulbasaur. "Fury swipes!" said Meowth, as he moved behind to support the others. "Staryu use swift!" said Misty, Staryu fired yellow stars at Weezing, Arbok and Meowth. "Bulbasaur use razor leaf!" said Serena, Bulbasaur fired leaves from its bulb at team rockets Pokemon. Staryu and Bulbasaur attacks connected but Arbok, Weezing and Meowth powered through and attacked Staryu and Meowth knocking both Pokemon out. "Staryu return!" said Misty returning Staryu. "Bulbasaur return!" said Serena. "Looks like that's it for your little Pokemon." Said Jesse. "Now why don't you surrender before you get hurt." Threatened James as Meowth pulled out his claws and Arbok and Weezing glared.

Suddenly electricity shot at them from Pikachu using thunder shock and Charmander followed with Flamethrower, Pidgeotto used steel wing and Butterfree used confusion. Their attacks surprised everyone that was inside the room including team rocket who had their Pokemon flying into them from the explosion from the attacks connecting. "Now Charmander use ember! Spearow use gust! Rattatta use bite! Beedrill use poison sting! And Zubat use supersonic! Pikachu use Thunder shock! Charmander use Flamethrower! Pidgeotto use gust! Butterfree use confusion!" said Ritchie and his Pokemon launched their attacks at Team rocket causing an explosion that sent them flying through the ceiling off the cave. "Looks like team rockets blasting off!" screamed team rocket as all their agents flew through the ceiling and some ran off.

"Are you guys okay!" asked Ritchie as he moved to help his friends. "Ritchie! You're okay!" said Misty. "But where is Ash? And why are you with some of his Pokemon?" asked Serena, as she noticed that Ritchie had Ash's Pikachu, Charmander, Pidgeotto and Butterfree but not Nidorino. "Ash fell through the floor from the explosion and Nidorino fell with him." Explained Ritchie. "Oh no!" said Misty. "Ash." Said Serena.

"Don't worry I have been researching thus cave for years and I think I can help you find him." Said Seymour reassuring them. "Thanks! Let's free the captured Pokemon and help that kid." Said Misty. They all nodded and started opening the cages of the captured Pokemon setting them free to move back into the caves.

"Hey are you okay? Asked Ritchie to the kid they found in a cage he had a Geodude next to him that must be his Pokemon supporting him as he tried to stand. "Yes. Thanks for saving me. My name is Forest." Said the kid who couldn't be older than eight years old, named Forest. "You look a lot like the pewter city gym leader Brock." Said Ritchie. "Yeah, he's my big brother." Said Forest.

"Brother!" said Misty surprised, "wait you know the Pewter city gym leader?" "Yeah, Ash battled against him when we were in Pewter city." Responded Serena before looking down sad worrying about Ash. "Yeah, we will get you back to your brother but first we have to find Ash. So where do we look Seymour?" asked Ritchie seeing that they had freed all the Pokemon. "Simple we use the Clefairy." Said Seymour as he held up a Clefairy he had gotten from one of the cages. "The Clefairy know this mountain better than anyone and if we ask them to find Ash, they will do it quicker than us."

"Cool!" said Misty. "But how will they know where to find him." Asked Serena. "Simple we just show him where Ash fell, and he will take us to him." Explained Seymour. "Great! Let's go!" said Ritchie. "Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu and Ash's other Pokemon joined in happily exclaiming.

They took Clefairy back to where Ash had fallen and waited to see what she would do. "Cle!" said Clefairy with a thoughtful look then she pointed to a small space in the wall and walked to it, climbed into the hole, and went down. "Quickly follow Clefairy!" said Seymour and they moved and squeezed into the hole and went down after her. They went through twisting tunnels and eventually they came to a huge open space with a giant rock and small rocks piled around it bathed in the moonlight. They looked around and saw lots of Pokemon that look like Clefairy. "Who's that Pokemon?" asked Ritchie as he scanned them. "Clefable the Fairy Pokemon and the evolved form of Clefairy, they are very protective of their own world. It is a fairy, rarely seen by people."

"Those Pokemon are Clefable! Then that stone must be the moon stone! Clefairy evolves into Clefable when it touches the moon stone! Amazing!" said Seymour. "Wow!" exclaimed everyone. Then A large purple Pokemon emerged from behind the moon stone and next to it they noticed someone. "Guys" said the voice belonging to Ash. "Ash!" exclaimed everyone and Pikachu, Charmander, Pidgeotto and Butterfree jumped into Ash's arms as Misty, Serena, Ritchie, Seymour, and Forest surrounded him.

"Are you okay?" asked Serena, "What happened to you?" asked Misty. "And who's that Pokemon?" asked Ritchie. "I'm fine. After we fell through the floor the Clefairy brought me here to help Nidorino and when he touched the moon stone, he evolved into Nidoking." Answered Ash. "Nidoking?" asked Serena bringing out her Pokedex. Nidoking the Drill Pokemon and the evolved form of Nidorino Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.

"Raww!" Nidoking roared loudly at everyone as it showed off its new evolved body. Pikachu and the other Pokemon started chattering away with him. "So, what happened with you guys?" asked Ash and Ritchie began explaining to him how the battled team rocket and sent them blasting off before freeing the captured Pokemon and saving Forest who was Brock's little brother.

As they were talking a giant mechanical arm came down and grabbed the moon stone it was connected to a Meowth shaped hot air balloon with a green basket (team rockets signature hot air balloon, ironic how team rocket never really used any rockets in their missions right? ) "The moon stones!" exclaimed Seymour. "Who's there!" asked Ash.

"Prepare for trouble who's there you say?" said a female voice.

"We'll you can make it double we're not here to play." Said a male voice

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team rocket blasting off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth that's right." Said new voice.

"Team rocket!" said everyone together. "I thought you were sent flying? How did you get back?" asked Ritchie. "As if we would lose so easily to you little twerps." Said Jessie. "We just held back while you brats found the moon stone for us and thought we could drop by now and take it." Said James. "Thanks for the help!" said Meowth cheerfully and he pushed a button on a controller and the mechanical hand started pulling the big moon stone.

"We have to stop them! Nidoking use Horn drill!" said Ash. Nidoking horn started glowing brightly and it charged and snapped the mechanical arm holding the moon stone. "When did he learn that move?" asked Ritchie. "When he evolved, he learned a few new moves." Said Ash. "You twerps!" said Jessie, she and James started taking out more Pokeballs to send more Pokemon to fight but the Clefable and the Clefairy started waving their fingers back and forth as they were singing, "Clefairy! Clefairy!" "Clefable! Clefable!"

"What is going on?" asked Ash. "Its Metronome! It's a move that fairy and psychic type Pokemon can use it allows the Pokemon to randomly use any move!" explained Seymour. "Any move?" asked Serena. The Pokemon continued moving their fingers back and forth and then they all stopped and fired energy beams from their mouths at team rocket blowing them up.

"To think this would happen to us once more." Said Jessie. "Wasn't much for an encore." Said James. "Shut yer yapps and prepare to hit the floor." Said Meowth. "But first looks like team rocket's blasting off again!" screamed the three of them.

"Awesome!" said Ash. "Thanks for your help, guys." The Clefairy seemed happy. Serena admired the Pokemon and then said," Alright I want to catch one of you!" Everyone looked over to her. "Are you sure? I mean these Pokemon don't usually leave the mountain." Asked Ritchie. "That's not a problem. She just needs to take the one that wants to go with her!" said Ash, giving her a thumbs up. Serena smile and then hold out her hand to the Pokemon waiting for one of them to move.

Then a Clefairy comes out from the group and jumps into Serena's arms. "Clefairy!" she exclaimed loudly. "Alright go Pokeball!" said Serena as she used a Pokeball on Clefairy and it was caught. "I caught Clefairy!" said Serena and she struck a pose with Bulbasaur jumping with her cheering. "Nice!" said Ritchie. "Incredible! You kids are more impressive than I thought. Not only did you save all these Pokemon, but you also managed to befriend and catch one of the Clefairy that live here. Its Amazing!" said Seymour happily. "Thanks, but we should get going soon." Said Ritchie.

"Yeah! We are heading to Cerulean city next." Said Serena. "What! Why there!" asked Misty shocked. "So, Ash can challenge the Cerulean city gym leader. Right Ash." Said Ritchie. "Yeah but, Nidoking isn't coming with us." Said Ash. Surprising everyone here. "What why!" they Asked. "Nidoking wants to stay here and help protect the Pokemon here from people like team rocket." Said Ash as he held Nidoking head looking sad at the ground. "He's right. We never know when they will be back and if they do the Clefairy and Clefable will need help protecting this place. But don't worry I'll come back all the time with Officer Jenny and the Pewter city gym leader brock and we will make sure they are safe and if you ever need to see him, we can send him to you." Reassured them Seymour. They nodded, "And besides look at all these cave formations, these mineral deposits, these tunnels, and caves crafted by the Clef folk! I could be here forever and never getting bored of the scientific discoveries here!" added Seymour happily. Everyone laughed.

After saying their goodbyes to Nidoking and the Pokemon in the cave Seymour headed back to Pewter city with forest and his Pokemon and Ash, Misty, Serena, and Ritchie headed on their way to Cerulean city home of the Cerulean city gym.

-As the Journey continues...

Two words - I'm Back!