Pokemon: Ribbons of Destiny (Chapter 5, 1-16-09)

[Mew Master]

Author's Notes: This fic comes as a combination of a few elements. For one, the world is more similar to that of The Electric Tale of Pikachu (for those of you familiar with the Manga) with advanced technology marked Pokemon, a really bitchin' Pokedex and more realistic setting than in the Anime. Two, some of the characters from Pokemon Special (on One Manga.com (www.onemanga.com) for those who are curious, it's actually pretty good), and a mesh of character personalities from both Manga series. Third, it follows the course of events that tie in with the games. And fourth, while it also tries to expand on a few concepts that are only grazed over in the Anime and Manga, and also tries to take a new spin on the old concepts of the Game Plot and what-not.

I hope you enjoy it.


Ribbons of Destiny
Chapter 1: Time and Place (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=364500&postcount=2)
Chapter 2: A Burning Passion 1 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=364684&postcount=4) and 2 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=364684&postcount=5)
Chapter 3: Beneath the Dark Side of the Moon (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=364924&postcount=8)
Chapter 4: Between a Rock and a Hard Place 1 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=365111&postcount=9) and 2 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=365111&postcount=10)
Chapter 5: Uncertain Future 1 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=384385&postcount=11) and 2 (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=384385&postcount=13)
Chapter 6: Standing Up (Under Construction)

A single strand is small and insignificant. As the strand joins with others it can create a ribbon. Through the sands of time, a tapestry can be woven that binds the fate of all...

[Mew Master]

Chapter 1: Time and Place

The rays of the sun broke through the clouds that hovered over the village of Pallet Town. Warming energy touched the ground, heating the sidewalks and lawns.

Pallet Town had always been a small town. They received their power from a locally owned and operated power plant. The nearest shopping town was Viridian City, a two-day walk north. Pallet was home to about 10,000 humans and twice as many Pokémon.

Sitting inside his room on the top floor of a second story home, Denny Roth sat at his drafting table. Pencil in hand, and paper before him.

His hand quickly sketched out an outline, erased, emphasized some lines, sketched, and continued. The creature fleshed out on the paper was a dragon, not any dragon, it was a Charizard. Pictures of Pokémon littered his drafting table, dragons, psychics, bugs, and others were featured in the pictures. There was even a newspaper cut-out of a piece of a golden rock on display within a museum.

The radio blared on his dresser, several feet behind him. “… the explosion is still unexplained, and the Cinnabar Fire-fighters have been fighting the flames for the last few hours with no sign of the fire letting up. The are eye-witness reports of something blasting up and away from the mansion shortly after the explosion. And the latest group of Pokémon Trainers that have passed their Trainer Exams shall begin their own quests at the end of the week. Several high scoring pupils have caught the eye of the Pokémon League as tough contenders in the coming season…”

Denny stopped sketching and looked out the window his drafting table faced. The sun started to peak through the layers of clouds that had surrounded Pallet Town earlier in the day. He hadn’t taken the Exam. He hadn’t bothered.

He liked Pokémon, who didn’t, but he never asked his mom to let him take the test. Even though in her own words: “You can do anything you want as long as your happy…. And it’s legal.”

“Hmm,” Denny pondered. “Maybe I should have taken the Exam… What did I have to lose?”

He thought about it a bit more. Three other kids from Pallet had taken the Exam, one mainly to be exempt from the school year. His eyes lowered to the drawing in front of him. The fore-shortened left leg of the Charizard still didn’t look right.

Denny went back to working on the picture and noticed the sunlight increase in brightness. Lead met with paper as he continued working on the Charizard.

Working on the drawing, Denny was oblivious to something blocking the sunlight. He was oblivious to the fact that the shadow was moving.

Stopping, he looked at his drafting table and the shadow being cast on it. Confused, he looked up and saw what was blocking the sunlight.

A Pokémon floated in mid-air. Its fur was a whitish pink. Feline in shape with two big ears and a long tail, it resembled a kangaroo rat. It blinked back at him with two big blue eyes shining with intelligence.

“Mew,” was what Denny heard through the glass of his window.

“GAH!” Denny flipped backwards on his chair, crashing to his bedroom floor.

“It’s a… Pokémon,” he mumbled to himself as he sat up and looked at the window again. He blinked. It was gone. “Wha?” he mumbled to himself.

Scrambling to his feet, Denny grabbed his hat and vest and nearly jumped down the stairs to the ground floor. Rushing out of the door in the carport and sliding along the sidewalk, Denny looked up at the sky around where his bedroom window faced. The slam of the screen door in the carport echoed loudly.

Confused, dumbfounded, Denny stared at the west side of his home.

“Where’d it…. What was it?” he mumbled to himself.

His confusion was shattered by three kids walked up the road towards him.

The trio consisted of two boys and a girl, all of them around their mid-teens. Denny recognized them instantly. Ash, Gary, and Giselle. Ash had a heart of fire and a will never to give up, and always had his red cap on his head. Gary was colder, sarcastic and wore a long-sleeved blue shirt. Giselle had a habit of being a bit greedy and was sometimes named “Green” because of the green-eyed monster, currently she was wearing a white t-shirt with a short red skirt and sun-hat with part of a Pokèball design on it. Denny had known the three all their lives, he liked them all and preferred to hang out with Red more than Blue and Green.

“Hey Denny!” Ash shouted as the three of them got closer.

“Yo guys, how’d the Exams go?”

Gary balanced a Pokéball on his index finger. “Too easy, they should have put me in the advanced class.”

“You’re always boasting Gary, why not just make gloating an Olympic Sport?” Giselle retorted shrugging her shoulders.

“Heh,” Denny chuckled at her comment. “How about you Ash?”

Ash hung his head and sighed.

“He almost slept through the whole test!” Gary stated and slapped Ash in the back.

“I can’t help it! I was up all night studying!” Ash shouted back and the two of them got into a grappling match.

“If they weren’t close friends you’d think they’d want to kill each other,” Giselle commented, folding her arms.

“What do you mean?” Ash and Gary said at the same time. “We DO want to kill each other.”

“Save it for later boys,”

“So Denny,” Gary stated as he stood back up, dusting his clothes off. “Didn’t you take the Exam? Or are you too busy drawing Pokémon to train them?”

Denny looked at him. “You don’t think I haven’t considered it? I’d like to go out and see the world. To see new Pokémon. To draw those Pokémon. But mostly to go out and see the world.”

“Then why didn’t you take the Exam?” Giselle asked.

Sighing, Denny replied, “Cause I applied too late for the Exam date this season.”

“Awe,” replied Gary. “Poor Denny missed the Exam. Looks like you’ll be able to watch me become the top trainer in Indigo.”

“Watch it Gary,” Ash said. “You’ll have to get past me, because I’ll be the top trainer.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Then try and keep up!” Gary ran off, with Ash close behind. The two boys disappeared down the street.

“I better get going too. I know there are some cute Pokémon for me! Bye Denny! Hey! Wait for meee!” Giselle ran off after them, her hair trailing behind her.

Denny stood and watched the three disappear down the road, heading towards Professor Oak’s Research Laboratory. He had walked by the lab several times, it was hard not to since Pallet was small. A few times he wanted to go in, but Oak was a high-level celebrity, so walking up to the man made most people uncomfortable.

He shook his head and looked around for the reason he ran outside in the first place. The Pokémon had to be long gone by now. Walking up by the side of his home, he looked up where his bedroom window faced. Bushes lined this side of the house, and one of the windows was covered with a blanket.

Denny looked at the sky, shielding his eyes from the rays of the burning sun. As he looked up, there was a slight sound of rustling behind him. Spinning around, Denny looked at the bushes.

Something moved slightly among the leaves behind the bushes. Denny walked up slowly, carefully placing his feet as he moved closer to look under the bush.

He almost fell over.

Curled up under the branches of the bush, a fine furred Pokémon lay. The fur had a pink tint to it, even as it was shaded by the bush leaves. A long thin tail wrapped around the small Pokémon, the tip a large bulge. To Denny, the Pokémon looked much smaller than the one that appeared at his window.

Denny kneeled down and slowly reached his hand outward towards the Pokémon. His hand was an inch away from the soft pelt and he gulped. Why hadn’t the Pokémon run? Why did it stay on the ground, content and sleeping? He swallowed down the lump in his throat and pushed his hand farther towards the Pokémon.

The feeling of a warm soft pelt met his fingers, and soon his hand sat gently on the Pokémon’s body.

This Pokémon was smaller than the one he saw outside his window. Much smaller. Denny let his hand rest on the Pokémon’s chest, feeling its breathing. Its eyes were closed and it breathed deeply and shallowly. But something was wrong. It was much too small, and it’s breathing very irregular.

“Maybe,” Denny said out loud. “It’s sick. But it looks so young…”

Carefully, he picked up the Pokémon into his arms. It was small, barely seven inches tall. The tail hung loosely as he held the Pokémon in his arms. Quickly he rushed back inside his home, keeping the sleeping Pokémon safe.

* * *

“Denny,” his mother told him after his mad dash around the house for towels and food for the Pokémon. “If it was abandoned then there’s a chance that the Pokémon won’t make it.”

“But I’ve at least got to try mom,” he sat on the floor next to his bed. The Pokémon was curled up on his bed, wrapped in towels and a hot water bottle sitting under it. “Remember the kittens I raised?”

Two years ago Denny had found three abandoned kittens. For the next three months he hand fed and cared for them until they were old enough to be given away. His desire for them to survive woke him up in the middle of the night to feed them, clean them, and keep a watchful eye on the kittens. Now he was showing that same devotion to this abandoned Pokémon, who was left on his doorstep.

“By why was it left here? Just to die, to fend for itself?” he asked himself.

His mother put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know dear. Whatever happens, happens. Don’t get your hopes up, I don’t think it will live through the next few hours, let alone the night.”

“So what can I do?” Denny asked looking up at his mother.

“I don’t know honey,” she replied. “I don’t know.”

Denny stood up, determination in his eyes. “I’ve gotta try!” With that, Denny bolted out of the room and almost fell down the stairs as he ran out of his home. His feet hit the pavement and kicked up small amounts of dirt in his wake.

Pallet was small compared to Viridian and other larger towns. It had a few offices and a mini-mall or two, but it was still a small town at heart. Denny ran along the road, nearly getting run over by a truck or hover scooter, but not stopping as he ran.

* * *

“Bulbasaur!” Ash shouted loudly. “Take down!”

The aqua green lizard with the bud on its back curled his legs and lunged at the Charmander in the way. Its small body slammed into the orange Pokémon and knocked it back.

“Come on Charmander, Ember!”

Spinning back, the Charmander spat out loogies of flame. The small fires burnt the toad-like Pokémon.

Ash, Gary, and Giselle were on a small hill on the edge of Pallet Town. They had just received their starting Pokémon and were testing them against each other. Giselle herself was just watching the two boys pummel each other until they finally got bored. This, however, was their third match and each had one a single match before. She looked over at the road leading back to Professor Oak’s. Pallet Town rested between two hills in a small valley, two skyscrapers pierced the sky over the town. As she looked down, she noticed that someone was running along the road towards Professor Oak’s.

“Is that… Denny?” she asked herself as she heard Ash and Gary’s Pokémon battle. “What could he be doing?”

“Ha!” Gary said loudly. “I knew I’d win. Fire types are strong against Grass types. This is why I picked second.”

Giselle stood up and dusted off part of her dress. “Well keep gloating Gary, because my Turtley is better than your Charmander. Go!” She threw the Pokéball containing her starting Pokémon and the ball started to glow brightly. The glowing sphere deformed and transformed into the small turtle-like Squirtle.

* * *

Denny stopped at a light post and forced himself to catch his breath. He had run across town, and was surprised that Pallet was actually that big. Looking up he wiped the sweat off his brow and away from his eyes.

“Almost *huff* there *huff*…” Denny looked up and got his bearings.

He was on the edge of Pallet Town, the area where Professor Oak kept his lab wasn’t too much farther ahead and he could already see the top of the building above the trees. Taking another breath he started running, although at a slower pace.

A large fence surrounded the laboratory, and the gates were still open. An engraved plaque read “Oak Pokémon Laboratory.” The building was two stories tall and several stories across. Smooth grey limestone made up the exterior and two columnar pillars in front of the glass doors. Slowly, Denny walked up to the doors.

Cautiously he stepped on the elevated landing. The glass doors slid apart with a “whoosh” causing him to jump back. His composure returned, Denny walked inside.

While the interior was seemingly common the inside was amazing. Shelves of books, Pokémon statues and models, complicated machinery, and several desks littered the large front room.

“Whoa…” Denny managed to mutter as he cautiously made his way further inside. Magazines and books littered the floor, along with pieces of circuitry. Piles of discarded trash, used food wrappers. The lights were off, save for a flickering luminescent bulb in the back room. As the doors closed behind him, he was surrounded by the darkness, the flickering light gave the scene such an eerie feeling that a shiver ran up Denny’s spine.

“Pro…Professor Oak?” he meekly called out. “Are you… here?”

Slowly, step by step, he started walking deeper into the office, side-stepping piles of trash. Each step sent out either a crunch or crinkle of paper and plastic. Some of the trash on a pile next to him shifted and he jumped, letting out a shout and backing up into the pile behind him.

His eyes widened with horror as the falling pile revealed a human stuck under it. Her face was hidden by deep lines and she looked like a zombie.

“A-A-A!” Something grabbed his foot and he looked down. Someone else was under the pile he had backed into, trash and papers falling off of this one’s body.

“He-ee-eelp…. U-uh-us.”

Denny’s eyes widened as he saw the two zombie-like people.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

* * *

“So you two were stuck like that for two days?” Denny commented, breathing hard after getting the two assistants out from under the pile of trash that they had been stuck under. The other two just smiled and chuckled nervously, mumbling about being undependable. The trash was piled over against the walls in tall piles, when it collapsed on both of them, trapping them under their weight.

“So who are you?”

“Were’ Professor Oak’s Assistants,” said the male. “I’m Daryl.” He had short brown hair and a thin face, and had an air around him that made him feel trustworthy.

“Interns, actually,” the female replied, whapping Daryl in the back of the head. “I’m Sarah.” She was pretty, late teens with long black hair and small oval glasses. Both of them were wearing similar white lab coats. “Who are you?”

Denny remembered why he was here. “I’m Denny! And I need to see Professor Oak, right now! I need his help!”

“Um… the Professor isn’t here.” Daryl commented, slightly surprised at Denny’s urgentness.

“Isn’t this his lab?!”

“Actually this is our office,” Sarah replied. “The Professor’s actual Lab is at the other end of a compound. It even has a different entrance that’s marked clearly.”

Denny’s reaction was one of surprise as he realized that he had stumbled into the intern’s office and completely missed the main lab where Oak was supposed to be. A dark aura seemed to surround him as a feeling of defeat washed over him.

“I think he’s a little bit depressed,” Sarah commented.

“You think?” was Daryl’s reply.

“What’s all this?” came a voice from behind Sarah and Daryl, which caught them both off guard as a shiver ran up their spines.

Denny turned at the voice and the three of them were surprised to find Professor Oak standing, leaning in through the door and staring at the sight.

Despite his reputation for being a world renowned expert on Pokèmon, you would expect a man like Daniel Oak to be old and have a thick beard similar to Charles Darwin. However he was barely middle aged, mostly clean shaven, with a small hint of stubble. His hair was cut short on the sides and was ruffled like he had just woken up. In his hand was a cup of coffee and in his other was a piece of toast he had just taken a bite out of.

“GAH! Professor! Forgive us!” the two interns pleaded, bowing at Oak’s feet.

Oak just sipped his coffee, making the comment of, “You both are horrible house keepers. No wonder I didn’t see you for the last few days.” He looked at Denny, who was still dumbfounded to be in the same room.

“Professor Oak! You have to help!”

“Denny… was it?” Oak said finishing the toast he had. “Now what’s the problem?”

“IhaveaPokèmonwellactuallyIfounditandit’slittleand pinkandit’ssickorsomethingandIdidn’ttakethePokèmon ExamsoIcan’thaveitbutIcan’tletitdieand…” Denny stopped as Sarah put a finger to his lips, calming him. He was surprised by how pretty she was, and he started to calm down.

“Take it easy,” she said in a calm voice. “We’ll help.”

“Right,” Oak said, putting the empty coffee mug on a shelf that had a little space. “Daryl, get my examination bag from the Lab. Meet us by the car, while Denny shows us this Pokémon he found.”

“See?” Sarah said sweetly. “We’ll be glad to help.”

And Denny felt calm.

* * *

The look on Professor Oak’s face was priceless as he saw the small little Pokémon lay curled up on a few blankets and pillow on his bed. Professionalism took over and he went to work, hovering over the small Pokémon, using instruments and calling the interns for assistance. Denny was ushered out of the room as the three of them began to diagnose the small being.

An hour later, the three came out, Professor Oak had a look of concern on his face.

“Denny,” he said. “I need to speak with you. Alone.”

Concerned, and a bit afraid, Denny gulped a bit before walking slowly towards his room where the little Pokémon was asleep. There was medical equipment and some instruments that he had never seen before, scattered around the room, resting on his bed. The Pokémon had receptors connected to its body, and a small machine was resting on his bed, letting out constant beeps and body readouts.

“What I’m about to tell you isn’t the best of news,” the professor started. “This Pokémon isn’t any ordinary Pokémon. It’s very rare, so rare that I’ve only heard about it in legends and hieroglyphics.”

“It’s rare?”

“Yes. Very rare. And what’s more, this one is young. The tests I’ve done show that it is a very young Pokémon, possibly less than a few weeks old. However,” Oak’s tone turned serious. “The Pokémon has also suffered a lot of physical and mental trauma. Her mental readings are off the charts and her vital signs are fluctuating at an unpredictable rate. At this rate, she’ll die tonight.”

“Wh-What?” Denny was shocked. He had never really experienced death, although he understood it. Death was a release from the world, and it was the end of life.

“This Pokémon,” Oak repeated. “Is going to die.”

“Ca-Can’t you do anything?! You’re the Pokémon Prof!” he yelled.

“I’m only human, Denny. I can’t save every life, I’m not even equipped for it. Death is a part of life, and sometimes we have to let it run its course.” Oak started to disconnect the equipment and collect it back into the bag that it was brought in.

Denny was dumbfounded. All he could do… was wait for her to die.

“If you want to do something for her,” Oak said just before he was ready to walk out the door to his room. “Then remember her. Keep her in your heart. Make a nice memorial for her. For what little time you’ve spent with such a precious little creature.”

With that, Professor Oak left Denny, closing the door behind him.

Denny stared at the little Pokémon resting and breathing on his bed, wrapped up in cloth and cushioned. Carefully he walked towards her, resting a hand on the small one’s head, gently petting it, feeling how cold she was getting compared to when he had found her earlier that day.

“No…” he whispered. “You can’t die.” His hand felt the soft pelt. “Please. I don’t want to see anyone die. You’re a life. You can’t leave without trying to live yet.”

He kneeled at the foot of his bed, wrapping his arm around the Pokémon, trying to keep her nice and warm. Denny would give her his own life if he could, if he knew how. However, this was all he knew. He could only comfort her until the end.

Please…. Don’t die…..

With tears running down his cheeks, he fell asleep at the foot of his own bed, the Pokémon breathing shallowly in his arms.

* * *

Denny awoke the next morning, stiff and sore. His eyes were heavy with sleep and his arms and neck were stiff. Leaning up he turned his head, trying to stretch his neck along with his arms. He groaned slightly from the pain and rubbed his head. The world was a blur to him, and he started to feel around for his glasses.

He searched and started feeling over his bed, squinting his eyes to force the world into perception. Denny’s hand grazed across his glasses and he fumbled with them in his drowsy state. Carefully he put them on, the ear-pieces sliding over the back of his ears. His mouth was dry and felt thick, smacking his lips, trying to get some saliva running he looked around his room.

Looking around with his eyes half-opened, his mind was a blank. It was slowly working, getting back into the normal rhythm of thinking. He looked around at his bed and saw the pile of towels and bedding that he had put there for the Pokémon…

And the Pokémon was missing!

Suddenly awake and aware, Denny scrambled up and darted out of his room.

“Mom!” His feet struggled for traction as he went down the stairs and he slammed into the wall at the small landing before jumping down to the main ground.

“Mom! Wh-Where’s?” he mumbled, tears forming in his eyes.

His mother looked back at him with a look of confusion and sadness. “Denny I…”

“Mew,” said a soft high-pitched voice just before Denny felt a weight on his head.

He looked up, and stared into the small face of the pink furred, bright blue-eyed, Pokémon that had been on death’s door the other day.

“GAH!” he exclaimed, shock and surprise taking his balance and causing him to fall over. The Pokémon flew off his head as he crashed on the floor, causing a few things from the cabinets to fall down, landing on top of him.

“Ow…” he rubbed his head before the Pokémon floated over and landed on his chest, leaning over and staring him in the eyes.

“Mew!” it seemed to purr before licking his cheek and nuzzling up against him.

“Yo—You’re alive!” Denny exclaimed as he sat up and held the Pokémon in his hands. She was even smaller than he had thought. Between his hands, only her feet, tail, and head were clearly visible. The little Pokémon just smiled back at him, purring contently.

I… I’m glad..” he said, tears running down his cheeks. Not from sadness, but from joy and the knowledge that this Pokémon was alive.

* * *

“Incredible,” Professor Oak exclaimed for the third time. “Just … incredible.”

Denny sat backwards in one of the chairs that littered the professor’s laboratory, smiling contently. Oak was busy taking readings of the Pokémon’s vital signs and energy levels. The little creature had gone from death’s door to the spitting image of fitness in less than a day. She was smiling and purring and had enough energy to give a Pikachu a toothache.

“The vitals are all looking good Professor,” Daryl commented, checking and then re-checking the instrument calibrations. “And the equipment’s not malfunctioning either.”

Oak chuckled with amazement. “I’ve heard about Mew’s before. So rare that they’re considered a mirage by everyone. They’ve only been referenced to in legends and ancient hieroglyphics.”

“It’s a Mew?”

“Yup,” Sarah said watching the procedure. “Based upon her morphology as well as cross-checking the old folk tales, I’ve managed to conclude that the little sick Pokémon you had on your bed was a Mew.”

“So she’s really that rare?” Denny asked, smiling at Mew. The Pokémon saw him, smiled and floated over, body tackling him out of his chair.

“She is, and she seems to like you.” Oak replied. “Considering you probably brought her back from the brink of death, I’m not surprised.

The young man looked at Oak, and then back at the Mew who was currently holding onto his shirt and digging her face into his chest. He smiled and pet her, feeling the small Pokémon purr under his touch.

“So Mew, want to live with me?”

The Pokémon stared at him for a minute before her eyes started to tear up and she shouted with joy. “MEW!” hugging him more.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.” Oak stated, catching both human and Pokémon by surprise at his serious tone and the dark aura that seemed to be surrounding him.

“What? Why?” Denny pleaded.

“For starters, you aren’t certified by the Pokémon Indigo League for the care and training of Pokémon.”

Oh yeah, Denny thought. I never took the entrance exams, or went to the classes for them…

“Since you aren’t certified, you can’t have this Mew as a pet. I’m sorry Denny but you’ll have to let her go.”

“What? Can’t I keep her? Even if I’m not competing in the League?”

“No.” the professor said, turning away and looking out the window. "The law is clear on this. Pokémon are dangerous and at many times unpredictable. Their evolution is much more rapid and random than other organisms. While it may take regular animals thousands of generations of individuals to evolve, a Pokémon can evolve multiple times within a fraction of the time. It’s not evolution by the normal definition, but it is evolution when relating to the Pokémon itself. Without a proper license you can’t keep any Pokémon, even as pets.”

Denny could feel his world crashing down. He had helped pull Mew back from the edge of death, and now he was supposed to let her go back into the wild, to let her face her fate alone.

“Professor! Is there any way I can take the exam? I know the test was today, but isn’t there an online or written version or something?!”

“I’m afraid not.” Oak replied. “The test is scheduled months in advance and you have to take an extensive study course, even more rigorous than for high school placement, and pass in the top quarter percentile in order to even be considered for a license. Without the weeks of testing there’s no way you can pass the exam and get your license.”

“So…” his spirits sank down into the pit of the abyss. “There’s nothing… I can do.”

There was a glean in Professor Oak’s eye as he made his next point. “However… I am officially certified to administer and proctor the exam at any point in the season.”

Denny looked up at Oak. Surprise causing his eyes to widen. “Wha-You?”

Oak turned around and looked down at Denny. “If you really want to keep Mew, then you’ll have to study for and pass the Indigo League Entrance Exam in less than a week. The season officially starts at the end of the week, so if you really want to do this, you better get started.”

His eyes widened as he realized the possibility before him. Jumping without thinking he hugged Professor Oak. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” as Oaks interns stared on, dumbfounded that someone had actually hugged the professor and Mew giggled with a big smile.

* * *

While more than a little annoyed at Denny’s sudden choice to join the Indigo League, his mother was supportive none-the less. For the next three days, from the moment he got home from school, to the moment right before bed, Denny was over at Oak’s, getting tutored by Sarah or Daryl in the training and handling of Pokémon, the theories on the factors that affect their evolution, their relationships with other animals, and interactions with humans.

Between Sarah’s instruction on the life histories of Pokémon, and Daryl’s explanation of Pokémon evolution, Denny was able to see that despite their eccentric house-keeping they were very intelligent and were Professor Oak’s assistants for a reason.

The day of the test came, and Denny had even stayed up late the night before studying for it. It had suddenly become more important than his art, as sketches were left un-finished on his drafting table, gathering dust. Mew was currently staying at Professor Oak’s laboratory, although occasionally she would sneak through and visit Denny right before he crashed for the night, then returning to Oak’s lab.

By the end of the week, Denny waited in Oak’s lab, dreading the results. The Training Season started tomorrow, and Oak was still grading his Exam. He felt so stressed about it. So much information there that he had to know, and a lot of it he had just spaced on while taking the test.

“Oh don’t worry Denny,” Sarah commented. “I’m sure that you did fine. With my private instruction I’m sure you’ll pass.”

“And even if you don’t, you can try again in a few weeks after the season’s underway,” Daryl pipped in. The comment made Denny even more nervous.

“You’re not helping.” Sarah batted Daryl with a paper fan while the Mew comforted Denny, now descending into the darkness of his depression.

The scene was interrupted as Professor Oak came out of his office, a sollumn look on his face.

Denny looked up at the professor, “Well? How’d I do?”

“Well…” Oak started. “You obviously misunderstood the basic design and transport system of the Pokéball, the validity of human-Pokémon interaction in the 1600’s, and I don’t even want to know what you thought the Bernullie’s Principle of Elemental Stone Radiation was!”

Denny could feel his body shatter like his hopes and dreams.

“Despite that… you managed to pass at the low end of the required score.” Oak added with a smile.

Between Denny, Sarah, and Daryl, their face-fault caused the collected and organized trash in the office to come piling down on them once again.

After digging themselves out, and another voice of concern from Oak, the Pokeémon professor presented Denny with a single Pokéball.

“Now, I’ve already given away the usual starter Pokémon of Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle to those who passed their exams. Since this is an example of extenuating circumstances, this Pokéball is empty and new. So I’ll have to go and catch one from just outside Pallet to be your starter. After some time and experience you can be able to care for Mew.” Oak picked up his coat and held the ball, heading for the door. “I should be ba----ACK!”

With a burst of speed that no one could follow with their eyes, Mew knocked the Professor to the ground (or rather on top of trash that the assistants still hadn’t cleaned) from behind, causing the ball to be sent flying into the air. Denny, Sarah, and Daryl scrambled for it, jumping over chairs and tables and slipping on trash. Denny managed to have his hand on the ball last, before slipping on a plastic wrapper and the ball ended up flying into the air once more. Landing on Mew.

The young Pokémon was surrounded in a burst of light as the Pokéball split in half along the black stripe dividing the red and white halves. Energy from the capture process crackled through the lab as the two halves of the Pokéball collapsed and sealed around Mew as the Pokémon’s genetic information and body were both digitized and recorded inside the device.

Everyone watched as the Pokéball dropped to the ground and bounced twice. It wobbled as the knob glowed a bright red. Rocking back and forth, it was seen that the Mew was fighting, or was it? The Pokéball continued to wobble, for far longer than even Professor Oak had seen Pokémon struggle. When it stopped, about two minutes after Mew had been sealed inside, did the knob stop turning red, and a light chime ringed through the office.

“Did… did she willingly go in?” Sarah asked, surprised at what had happened.

“No,” Daryl replied. “It’s a fluke at best. A Mew wouldn’t let itself be captured… would it?”

Denny looked at the still Pokéball, resting there on the ground. The knob was no longer blank, it had a numeric one in the center of the knob. Resting on the floor of the office, Denny carefully crawled his way closer and reached out to pick up the Pokéball. As the tips of his fingers touched it, the ball exploded with a bright light, and the light materialized into Mew. There was no sign of the ball left.

However, Mew did have one thing she didn’t have before the Pokéball fell and encased her. On her left thigh was a circular marking, looking similar to the knob on the Pokéball. In the center of it was a numeric one.

Mew had been caught.

“Pro-pro-Professor!” Daryl shouted.

“I see it, you don’t have to yell,” Oak replied. “From the looks of things, it would appear that Mew is Denny’s starting Pokémon. It’s poetic actually.”

“Professor, what are you saying?!” Sarah shouted back. “You do know that the Indigo League rules state that a new trainer must be given one of three Pokémon for their specific region and designation. For the Kanto Region we give out Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. All three are easy to raise and have level depositions. If they are not available through the breeders than on rare occasions can someone get a wild Pokémon from the surrounding land. You know this! If the League found out they could revoke your license as well as Denny’s. Especially after how hard he worked to pass that exam.”

“This is true, however Mew is a wild Pokémon from the surrounding land.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Mew has never been spotted in this hemisphere before. Who knows where she came from?” Daryl added in.

“Does it really matter?” Denny said.

The argument between the three of them stopped. Denny held Mew in his arms, holding her close to his chest, but careful not to crush her.

“I mean… If Mew really wanted to be captured, and then stay with me, then what’s the harm in letting her be my first Pokémon? She’s back to full health, and she’s come by to visit me every day before the exam. If I passed, why not?”

“It could mean your expulsion from the League, and losing every Pokémon you’ve ever caught, including her.” Oak replied. “Are you sure you want to take that risk?”

“Yeah,” Denny replied with a purring Mew in his arms. “Yeah I am.”

Professor Oak smiled. “Well I’ll put in an exceptional circumstance report for you in with the Indigo League. Oh! Speaking of which…” Oak ducked through a doorway and returned a few minutes later. In his hands was a rectangular object, red and black in color. A golden “PM” was embroidered on the cover. There was a thumb-print sized button on the lower right side and a thin slit at the upper end, above the “PM.”

“Here’s your identification for the League, your Pokédex.” He handed the Pokédex to Denny.

Denny let Mew go, and the Pokémon floated up and rested on top of his head. He pressed the button and a holographic screen popped up showing his picture, his name, his basic information, and even the date of when he was given the exam and received his certification.

“It keeps track of all information on Pokémon. Their average size, weight, moves they’ve been known to learn, a recording of what moves yours have already learned, population distributions, effectiveness of attacks, allows you to send e-mails, messages, keep track on your progress within the League…”

“Professor you better stop before you confuse him too much.” Sarah interrupted. “He’s already under enough stress already.”

“True, however there is one thing that the Pokédex is also good for. Keeping track of the Pokémon that you have seen or captured. It’s recorded at your personal file within the League, and currently the ‘dex recognizes your first Pokémon. You can even name them and the Pokédex can recall their information by any nickname you give them.”

“A nickname?” Denny said, looking at that very option right now. He looked up at Mew, who looked down at him with her big blue eyes and soft pink fur. Two near-extremes of the color spectrum, a rainbow of possibilities.

“That’s it,” he said as he started typing in the letters for the name of his first catch.

“What did you name her?” Daryl asked.

He held Mew softly, petting her as she lay on his head. “Niji,” he said softly. “For the rainbow she represented when I first met her, a bright direction, and going on to the next horizon.”

Professor Oak smiled. He could see a little bit of himself in Denny right now. The joy of having your first Pokémon, the excitement of chasing the end of the rainbow. He even remembered his first Pokémon and the color of the sky on the day he left home.

“Well,” Oak said, near tears himself. “Let’s make sure you get yourself set up. The season officially starts tomorrow and any battles or caught Pokémon before that are not considered in the League Standings calculations.”

* * *

The day came, and despite Denny’s lack of enthusiasm for starting his own journey earlier that week, he was restless today. Niji was excited too. For some reason she refused to return to her Pokéball form for Denny to carry her around with, and the mark she had on her leg wasn’t going to trick anyone that she was a wild Pokémon. Through some last minute arrangements, his mom had gotten him some basic supplies and his own stuff Denny had enough to get started on. In addition to his allowance his parents had managed to scrape together a starting amount of about ¥200 extra.

So now Denny had the money, his first Pokémon, enough gear to get him started and hopefully see him through the season. If what he had heard was correct, when battling it was required by the League to present the victor of a match with a cash reward for winning. This usually came out of the loser’s pocket, and never more than half of their current account. The Pokédex also included a connection to the trainer’s bank account, doubling as a debit card and a bank statement, which would automatically transfer the divvied funds.

Such a handling of money lessened the drain on the parents of Trainers, but also helped to stabilize the economy as well.

With his pack set, Denny headed out, hugging and kissing his mother one last time, and then started north from Pallet towards Viridian City. Granted, walking would take more time than just driving there, but not much was ever accomplished by driving everywhere. He knew that there were dozens of kids just like him leaving Pallet Town. Ash, Gary and Giselle had already left… or so he thought.

Giselle was leaving Pallet too, however she was a few hours behind Ash and Gary. The rivalry between the two left them running of at the first opportunity, while she still worked on getting some of her clothes packed and all that she would need on the trip, trying to convince her parents that three suitcases of clothes were necessary. Her parents had won the argument. She started along the main road out of town when she spotted Denny heading up the road already.

She had seen a few trainers leave already, but none of them had their Pokémon out walking with them. It just wasn’t done. And besides that, Denny claimed he hadn’t taken the League entrance exams earlier that week. But there he was, walking out of Pallet, with a Pokémon on his shoulder!

“Hey! Denny!” she shouted, running up towards him.

Stopping when he had heard his name, Denny looked back towards the voice, and saw Giselle running up to him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

Slightly confused as to why she seemed upset, he just bluntly answered, “On the road to Viridian City?”

Almost face-faulting, she corrected herself and asked it another way. “No, I mean why do you have a Pokémon with you? You never took the test!”

“Actually… I did. Professor Oak let me take it,” he replied, chuckling nervously.

“Then what kind of Pokémon did he give you?” she said leaning in and eyeing Niji suspiciously. “It looks like a rat-type, but I haven’t seen anything like it before. It’s too cute to be a Rattata, and no way it’s a Pidgey or Spearow…”

“I named her Niji,” he said, petting the Mew and scratching behind her ear. The Psychic-Type let out a soft purr.

“Well whatever you named her,” Giselle said in her usual over-bearing ‘holier-than-thou’ tone. “I don’t believe that Professor Oak, who is bound by the Indigo League Rules for new Trainers, would let someone who didn’t take the exam on the correct date have a Pokémon.” She pulled out a Pokéball with a one on the knob holding it out in a ‘look-what-I-have’ way before continuing, “And to prove it, I’ll battle you and your Niji Pokémon! Go!” she tossed the ball into the air. “Turtley!”

In a contortion of light, the Pokéball exploded, vaporizing and turning into self-manipulative energy. The energy collected at the ground and started to condense, turning into a small figure. When the light faded, Denny was able to see what Pokémon Giselle had chose for her starter. It was small and stout, with a bald head, large eyes, moderately proportioned limbs, and a curly tail. The main body, however, was a thick, turtle-like, shell. White on the bottom and an earth-brown on top. The Pokémon had a blue tint to its skin and when it announced its presence, its voice was like someone was gurgling mouthwash.

“Squirtle!” it shouted, ready for a fight.

Niji floated off Denny’s shoulder and hid behind him.

“Wha? Niji?” he exclaimed, watching as his only Pokémon was hiding behind him from a challenger.

“I’ll just weaken it and take it then. It’s too cute to belong to you anyway. Water Gun!” Giselle ordered.

“Giselle, wait!” Denny retorted, holding his hands up to stop the attack.

It didn’t work.

Turtley inhaled before unleashing a constant stream of water that hit Denny square in the chest. Soaking through his clothes and knocking the wind out of him. The human landed hard on his back, sliding back from the recoil.

Denny coughed, trying to get some air back into his lungs. “*cough* Ow… *gasp* That hurt.”

“Fufufu!” Giselle laughed. “I knew it! You don’t have a real Pokémon because you didn’t take the test. What?”

Denny pushed himself back up, and saw Niji, floating in the air between him and Giselle’s Squirtle.

“Mew!” she yelled.

“What?!” Giselle exclaimed. “It’s.. It’s flying?!”

“Niji!” Denny shouted.

“Go get it, Tackle!”

The Squirtle took a half step back before flinging himself forward, prepared to make contact with Niji. Floating, Niji just flipped over and around Turtley as the turtle Pokémon missed.

Damn, now what?! Denny’s mind raced as he watched Niji float around Turtley’s attacks. Wait.. he started digging for the Pokédex he received from Oak the other day. The professor said that this thing has a list of all the attacks that Pokémon could know. Finding it and activating it, a small holographic screen popped up and he started to shift through the options for some idea of what moves Niji could know.

Giselle watched Denny pull out a Pokédex and activate it. He was frantically searching for something. Did Professor Oak really issue him a Liscence?

“Why won’t this thing tell me anything about what moves Niji can know?!” Denny mumbled.

“Turtley, Tail Whip!”

Changing tactics, the Squirtle spun around and used the length of his tail to whap against Niji, taking the Mew off guard by the maneuver. Niji floated backwards to get away from the attack.

“Now, Tackle!”

Turtley spun again, this time using the momentum from the spin to get a good start before launching himself into a full-body tackle that connected with the much smaller Pokémon. Size was a definite factor in this fight. While Niji was about three-fourths the size of the Squirtle, she was much more nimble because she could fly and just seemed to be avoiding his attacks. However her dodges were driven more by fear than any actual inclination of dodging to counter-attack.

Denny continued to frantically look through the Pokédex looking for any known attacks that Niji should know. He hadn’t taken the time to effectively search through the program, and was getting useless information. As he searched a red warning started flashing in a separate window:


WARNING: Niji Health Decreasing at a steady rate.

“Niji!” he shouted, running with the two Pokémon as Niji continued to dodge Turtley’s attacks. “You have to attack back! If that Squirtle makes another hit like before...”

“Don’t let up! Water Gun!” Giselle commanded.

Another jet of water blasted forth from the Squirtle’s mouth, hitting Niji despite her dodging ability. The Mew crashed to the ground, soaked from the attack. She started to push herself back up, weakened, but wanting to escape, fear in her eyes.

“One more time!” Giselle told her Pokémon.

“STOP!” Denny shouted as he got between Turtley and Niji. Holding his arms wide.

“What are you doing?!” Giselle shouted as her Squirtle. “You can’t interfere in a battle like that!”

“This match is over Giselle.” He solemnly said. “Niji doesn’t want to fight, and I’m not going to force her to.” Looking up at Giselle, determination in his yes.

Giselle and Turtley watched as Denny turned around and picked up the Mew. She was battered, and bruised and panting, fear still clinging to her mind.

“Niji,” Denny said softly, holding her to comfort the little Pokémon. “I didn’t know that you don’t want to fight. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop or do anything to help you then. You don’t have to fight, and you never will if you don’t want to. Don’t be afraid anymore, I’m here, and I’ll still be with you.” Niji was crying softly, and curled into a ball in Denny’s arms. He stood up, carefully rocking the Mew in his arms and keeping her close so that she wouldn’t be afraid.

“Denny,” Giselle started to say. “I…-!” She was interrupted by her Pokédex receiving a message, letting out a warning beep.. She took out the device and checked it. The holo-screen popped up and she was surprised at the message:


Giselle Envio vs Denny Roth
Trainer IDs
764255 vs 926374
Turtley vs Niji
Victor: Giselle
Giselle has received ¥100 for Winning
End Message

No way, she thought. He was telling the truth! Denny does have a trainer license. Denny started walking back down the hill towards Pallet, carrying the Mew in his arms once again.

“Denny!” she shouted.

“I’m going to get Niji some rest and help. If I leave a day later than I planned, it’s okay. I don’t want Niji to get hurt like that again,” he replied, not stopping.

“Then train her! Train her to be strong and she won’t get hurt!” Giselle shouted back. “Next time I see you I want a rematch! So you better get good quick!” And like that she recalled her Squirtle and kept on moving.

Denny didn’t care about battling really. Especially now after the way Niji seemed to fear fighting. He couldn’t blame the young Pokémon. He didn’t like fighting as a kid, and forcing Pokémon to battle was almost the same thing. But even so, there were times when one had to stand up.

“Niji,” he said softly, getting the Mew’s attention. She looked up at him with wet eyes and tear-stained cheeks. “I know you don’t like to fight, but I want you to understand something that I’ve come to realize. There’s a time to fight, a time to talk, and a time to run. You don’t have to fight all the time, because running away is a good option. If you can talk or diffuse a situation before it breaks down, that’s good too. However there are times to fight, like when people you care about are in danger and you want to protect them, or there’s something wrong that you have to risk yourself to correct.” He stopped for a moment, remembering what happened after he got hit with the Water Gun attack. “But you were willing to fight after I got attacked, I thank you for that. You shouldn’t have to fight, but you shouldn’t be afraid to bleed either.”

Niji looked up at him as he stared into her eyes. She was clamed by his words, his surface thoughts of calm, caring, and his own stubbornness to be there. She smiled, and as they returned back home, Niji was purring in his arms.

* * *

A few hours behind what he originally planned, Denny and Niji were back on the road. Much of the original celebration for the starting trainers was over, and the other trainers had left town for their own adventures.

For Niji and Denny, it was the start of something scary, awe-inspiring, and wonderful at the same time.

And he was going to draw every bit of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For those new to the outside world, it can be a dangerous and wonder-filled place. Danger lurks around every corner, and discovery is just around the bend. As Denny and Niji start on their own journey for their own adventure, they run into some complications as they meet another trainer who refuses to back down from any match she’s in.

Next: A Burning Passion.

[Shuppet Master]

So this trainer gets a Mew as his first Pokemon. Normally, you'd get called shenangins for giving a semi-legendary Pokemon to the character, but it seems this Pokemon is a pacifist. I'm interested as to the title - is this character going to end up being a coordinator or something?

[Mew Master]

Chapter 2: A Burning Passion

Denny wiped the sweat off his brow and the dirt on his face smudged with the motion. Niji was breathing hard, her fur was a little ruffled from the attack and there was still fear in her heart. Sitting back, her trainer hit the ground hard on his rump, still struggling to get his breath back after chasing after the fight.

“Good job Niji,” he said calmly, holding a Pokéball in his hand. “We caught one and you didn’t even have to land a single attack.” The Pokéball had a two in the center of the knob, and the Pokémon inside wasn’t struggling to escape.

After having left Pallet Town two days ago, Denny and Niji have been scouring the area north of Viridian City. With Niji not willing to engage in a battle, Denny had spent some time trying to deduce a way to weaken a wild Pokémon enough that a Pokéball would work. Coming up with the battle plan wasn’t that difficult, but actually getting it to work was a pain. After having five Pokéballs when he left Pallet, he was now down to two, and both were taken by Pokémon.

Niji floated irregularly onto Denny’s head, and nuzzled his hair, her heart racing in her chest from the last encounter.

The tactic being used was simple enough. Niji would dodge any attacks aimed at her, taking as little damage as possible. The attacking Pokémon would get weak and frustrated from having its attacks miss constantly and if Niji could maneuver her didges around environmental hazards, then the wild Pokémon could injure itself on those structures.

The plan had nearly worked the last three times, but after the Pokémon wised up to what was happening, it dashed off into the grass after it broke out of the first Pokéball thrown at it.

Luckily, on his last Pokéball, the tactic worked, mostly because they had found a very temperamental and stubborn Pokémon to fight. A Spearow.

Of course the problem was that fighting a Flying Pokémon was difficult, even for Niji. The little Mew had gotten her fair share of injuries from the fight, and her fur was matted with dirt and blood. Luckily the Spearow’s temperament had worked in their favor. After the thing had hit the ground and weakened from going after Niji multiple times, Denny had thrown his last extra Pokéball.

Both had waited in anticipation as the capture sphere rocked back and forth until it finally stopped moving and the knob showed a number. Two flashed as the light faded, and Denny knew that his second Pokémon was his. Now was the time to heal Niji.

The encounters had taken their toll on Niji, who still didn’t want to attack another Pokémon, even in retaliation for an attack making contact. Her fur was bloodied and frazzled, patchy in some places. The Mew was weaker, but Denny made sure that she was nowhere near death’s door like she was when he had first met her.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a glass vial with a small white spray nozzle. The liquid inside was a deep red and Denny carefully brought Niji off of his head and let her sit in his lap. His legs were crossed and he carefully cleaned away the blood and dirt from her fur while applying the potion. Before planning this little strategy, he had seen how much damage Niji had taken against Giselle’s Squirtle, he made sure to stop by a Pokémart that specialized in healing medicens and other merchandise useful for Trainers. Because Giselle had gotten a good jump on him, because she had taken half of his current account, he didn’t have that much money to buy supplies.

But he used what he could.

Niji continued to avoid using any attacks and the Pokédex lacked any information on the Mew Pokémon because of her rairity. If he could find out any information on her, then maybe she could fight. But right now he had a Spearow, a Spearow that he had yet to name. And if he could train the Spearow, then Niji wouldn’t have to battle, and if he had one Pokémon that could battle, then maybe he could get on with a Journey to look at all the different Pokémon in the world.

Niji looked up at him, sensing some of his thoughts. There was worry on her face.

“Ah,” Denny mumbled before he gently pat the Mew. “Don’t worry Niji, you may not want to battle, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever get rid or think any less of you.” The reassurance made Niji purr.

“Heh,” he replied. “Let’s finish getting you healed. This is going to sting a bit.” With her fur cleaned, he took the potion and sprayed it on Niji’s wounds. The Mew gritted her teeth in pain as the potion started to cause her natural healing abilities to amplify. A few more minutes of carefully applying the potion to where Niji was injured and she was back to the image of health. She burst into the air, flying around in loops and mewing to show how happy she was and how good she was feeling.

Denny smiled but then opened his mouth in surprise as Niji ended up flying right into a bush. The little Mew either didn’t pay attention to where she was going, or just not used to flying for extended periods of time in intricate paths. He laughed as he helped Niji out of the bush and cleaned her off once more.

* * *

“Sooo…” Denny mumbled as he checked out his Pokédex. “Viridian Forest, between Viridian City and Pewter City. It has a lot of bird and bug Pokémon. A few rare Pokémon such as Pikachu have also been spotted occasionally with in the forest. Hmm.” He looked at the images of the Pokémon. “How about this one?” he asked Niji. “Think a Pikachu would be welcome to our little family?”

The Mew floated closer to the Pokédex screen and reached a hand through the image. Surprised when the image fizzled as her hand passed through, she looked again at the Pikachu image without touching it this time. Niji then turned and nodded at Denny, letting out an enthusiastic mew. He had stopped back in Viridian for a few more Pokéballs, what little he could scrape together with what meager funds he had left.

“Heh,” he replied after changing the screen and trying to pull up a map of Viridian Forest. “It’s not going to be easy. The forest is big and a lot of people get lost in here. You still think we should?”

Niji nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay, then let’s go! Falco!” he tossed a Pokéball up and the ball exploded into light and energy. The energy formed into a small brown bird, with angry looking eyes, and a falcon like beak. Its wings were a light brown, bordering on cinnamon red, fading out to the tips. The head and tail contour feathers were an earthy tan with a pale gray underbelly. On the breast was a circular marker with a two in the center, similar to the one on Niji’s left thigh. With a flap of its wings and a loud caw, the Spearow took to the sky. Reluctant to follow Denny into a fight, he had been caught however. Although he had been healed and treated fairly by the human, trust was not something he was going to give away freely.

Falco soared above Viridian Forest, using the individual slotting in the wing primaries to control the air-flow over the wings. Spearows, like many predatory birds and bird Pokémon had excellent eyesight and could spot prey on the ground while a mile or higher up in the sky. The world may be in two colors, but the stereoscopic vision made up for the inability to see color. His new human trainer was looking for a Pikachu, and the Spearow knew what the electric rodent looked like. When it was a chick, its mother would bring fresh rodents for him to learn how to kill, sometimes it also included a Rattata or Pikachu among his food.

Flying up in the sky, Falco felt free. Spotting a small rodent from this height was going to be difficult through the tree canopy. Difficult but not impossible. The Spearow wasn’t alone in the skys above the forest however, there was another bird flying up this high. Falco recognized the body shape of a Pidgey, and knew that the other Pokémon wasn’t a threat to his talons and beak. Pidgey’s feasted on insects, opposed to the fresh meat of larger prey that Falco preferred. The other bird Pokémon was probably lost, but Falco didn’t have time to deal with it.

He flew silently on the wind, gliding and using his slotted feathers to control the wind rolling over his wings, decreasing the drag and increasing the lift. Falco’s eyes scanned the forest below, searching for the little rat that the human wanted to find.

Falco found it. A common tell of stripes along the back and an angled tail flashed from the cover of the trees into a bush. Nothing escaped Falco when he was free, and nothing would escape him even while being trained by a human.

Denny watched through the open break in the tree canopy. Falco had flown up and high before disappearing. The bird Pokémon had been gone for thirty minutes when Niji floated onto Denny’s head and uttered a mew of concern.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Falco’s going to leave us. You saw how tough he was in the fight earlier.” He reassured her.

His own worries were silenced as he heard a loud caw from Falco high above them. Denny stood and watched the sky for the Spearow. The Pokémon circled above the break once, before flying off in a direction. Together, Denny and Niji raced that direction, both made sure to keep sight of Falco as he flew far higher and faster than they could run, and they lost the Spearow several times. Luckily Flaco kept track of them as well, sometimes the Spearow would let out a caw, that grabbed the human and Mew’s attention before continuing in the same direction.

Coming up on a clearing with several bushes, Falco circled the skies directly above and Denny assumed that this was the place where the Pikachu was. He motioned for Niji to stay silent as she floated close to him, and she put both hands on her mouth. Dropping low on his legs, nearly to a squat, he carefully started sneaking towards the bushes, keeping his eyes open to pay attention for the Pikachu.

Quietly he watched the bush line and the clearing, looking for any sign of movement. Despite needing glasses, usually his artistic abilities gave him an attention to detail and a perception that others usually were surprised at. He got closer and could see some movement behind the brush. Carefully he got into a crouch, and braced himself with his hands. Getting a little priming into his leg muscles, which were starting to cramp, he got ready to lunge his hands into the bush.

Which he did.

His hands scrambled around in the bush, trying to ignore the scratches that raked along his fingers and palm. Grabbing onto something with both hands, he thought he could feel the little electric rodent fight back and grab him in retaliation. He had a good hold and used both hands to make sure that the Pokémon wasn’t going to get away. Bracing himself, he tried to pull back, but what he had a hold of wasn’t budging, it even pulled him partway into the bush. Trying again he pulled up and out of the bush, sure he had the Pikachu in hand.

“Gotcha!” Denny and someone else shouted in synch.

It wasn’t a Pikachu in his hands. Denny had the hands of someone else wrapped around his own, in a similar grip that he had tried. He looked from the arms up to the body and then to the face of who’s hands he currently had.

The person’s face was thin, feminine with brown eyes. She was wearing a red-yellow hooded sweatshirt that was unzipped and revealed a light blue t-shirt underneath. There were two straps for a backpack around her shoulders and her hair was shoulder length, a red-tinted auburn. In her hair was a pin that resembled a flame, dark crimson that reflected the light through the canopy.

“He-hey!” Denny stammered. “You’re not a Pikachu!”

“Of course I’m not!” she shouted back. “And I would have had it if it wasn’t for you!”

“Pika?”

Both humans turned their heads towards the sound of a Pikachu looking at the two humans holding hands in the middle of the forest.

“Come here!” both humans shouted and lunged once more. Somehow ignoring the other and lunging for the Pikachu, the managed to crash into one another as the Pikachu simply got out of the way.

“Ow…” the girl said, moaning in pain. “Why’d you have to get in my way?”

“Gah!” Denny replied trying to pull himself out from under her. “Whadda mean your way?”

“Because that Pikachu is mine, and you got in my way,” she pushed herself off of him, but pushing onto him, forcing Denny back onto the ground with an “Ooof.”

Not too happy, at the accusations and the extra injuries from her using him as a spring-board, Denny responded with “That Pikachu isn’t yours, we found it first! And you stopped us!”

“No you didn’t! We did!”

“Like Dodou you did!” he responded.

The two humans went at it, arguing each other over who’s actual fault it was for letting the Pikachu get away. Standing there for a bit, the electric rodent watched the humans before dashing off into the underbrush, while under the attention of the humans.

“Okay!” the girl said. “Let’s settle this! Loki!” Her head turned towards the other end of the brush and a bipedal lizard bound over the brush line before sliding along the ground. Its smooth, overlapping, scales were an orange color. On the ends of its toes were three straight claws, giving it a better sense of balance. Proportionately, it had large eyes, much like Niji’s, blue in color. Its hands did not end in claws, but three small little fingers and a numeric one was on his right shoulder. At the end of the lizard’s tail was a bright roaring flame. As it acknowledged its trainer, the Charmander showed a pair of small fangs on its upper jaw.

“A Charmander…” Denny muttered.

“Come on,” the other trainer commanded.

Denny’s mind raced. He only had two Pokémon. Falco, who was too high to hear him right now, and Niji, who didn’t want to fight at all. He couldn’t ask Niji to fight, and if he didn’t do anything this girl might just sick her Charmander on him. He has heard stories of Pokémon battles where the trainers had been targeted for attacks to try and demoralize the Pokémon and trainer from the battle. He’d even heard of some people who actually ride their Pokémon into battle, like an old-fashioned general onto the battlefield.

“Mew!”

To Denny’s surprise, Niji floated in front of him from wherever she had gone. She hovered a foot above the ground and faced the Charmander. Just like with the Squirtle, she was smaller than her opponent, by about a third the size.

“Niji…” Denny said softly. Does she really want to fight? I thought she didn’t want to. Niji, you don’t have to do this… Quickly he pulled out his Pokédex, and the screen showed a small window that was linked directly to Niji’s vital signs. Heart-rate, overall health, and how much energy she had for the fight.

“That’s more like it,” the other trainer said. “Loki, Go with a Growl!”

With a leer, the Charmander let loose with a low growl. The action usually intimidated their opponent into reducing their ability to attack, making the user appear more stronger than they are. Niji floated backwards from the growl, even more scared than she already was.

“Now, Ember!”

Acknowledging the order, Loki spread his footing, bracing himself. He inhaled, expanding his chest, then exhaled in a small roar. Small, wallet-sized bits of flame came shooting out of his mouth, all heading towards Niji. The Mew started spinning around, flying over and under the fire as they came near, this tactic didn’t last long, and normally didn’t against trained Pokémon. A few shots of the fire made contact with her fur, burning it and sending the smell across the small clearing.

“Niji!”

“Oh come on, no big strategy?! Stop taking the hits and do something!”

With his opponent weakened, Loki went and rushed Niji, intent on a full body tackle to knock her to the ground. It was a little impromptu, but even he wasn’t having any fun in this match. A good opponent and challenge was what he enjoyed, not someone who was so afraid of their own shadow as to not fight back. The Charmander lunged for Niji who was in pain from the fire and still afraid from the growl. She saw the fire lizard jump for her, and her mind went on instinct for a brief second.

Flipping mid-air, Niji twisted over Loki as he lunged for her, curling her body up into a tight ball, leaving her tail at the very end. As her rotation came around a full cycle, the tip of her tail connected with the Charmander’s head, hard. Really hard. There was a heavy smack sound as the ball at the end of Niji’s tail connected with Loki’s head and sent him straight back to the ground and she floated past.

Denny’s Pokédex started beeping a message and a new window opened up.


Pokémon Attack Detected.
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Finished!
Move Identified: POUND
Mew Pokédex Entry Updated.

Niji actually learned a move?! Denny’s mind screamed. Awesome. Maybe part of the reason that she didn’t want to fight, is that she couldn’t.

“Nice job Niji,” he said. The Mew turned around, worry and fear in her eyes which made Denny’s joy, for her learning an attack, turn to worry over how she was feeling about it.

“Don’t think it’s over!” the girl said. “Leer!”

Loki pushed himself off and gave the Mew a look that could turn people to stone. Niji floated back, even more afraid than she had been a minute ago.

“Now! Get at it with a Scratch!”

The Charmander was completely on the offensive, swiping his claws at Niji as she tried to dart and dodge through the attacks. Her fur was starting to get covered in scratches and her own blood, the fear running through her mind was clouding her rational judgment.

“Hey!” the girl trainer shouted at Denny. “Aren’t you going to give your Pokémon any commands?!” the two tried to keep up with the fight, which sent them running through parts of Viridian Forest, jumping over tree roots and scrambling through bushes.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Denny muttered to himself, watching her. “It’s that Niji doesn’t want to…”

Chasing and swiping after the Mew brought Loki into a better position. Niji, however was cornered in a small grove of trees, her fear wasn’t letting her think of anyplace to go to escape from Loki’s attacks. She turned around and saw the Charmander standing there, a wicked smile on his face.

“Now we got it cornered! Get it Loki!”

“Niji watch out!” Denny shouted as he and the girl ran up to their Pokémon.

The Charmander dashed in, the little Fire Pokémon’s speed added in its favorable factor with a lot of trainers. With Loki running at her, claws bared and ready to strike, Niji curled into a defensive position, waiting for the attack to hit. The stress of waiting for the attack to hit, and the energy that she was building up in keeping her muscles so tensed, caused the Mew to lash out with her feet. Both of which ended up kicking Loki right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying back by a few yards, and he landed right into his own trainer, sending them both sprawling on the ground.

“Niji!” Denny shouted as he ran up to his quivering and thrashing Mew. “Niji. Niji! It’s okay. Calm down, it’s over…” he tried to hold onto the Mew but end up getting kicked in the chin twice and had his face and neck clawed at. “Niji… you’re... Ow ow ow ow!”

Niji suddenly stopped. She could feel the surface thoughts of Denny, of pain and confusion, worry and fear for her. And she could also smell blood. It wasn’t her blood this time, it was his. Looking up at her trainer she saw that she herself had done a decent number on him. He was bruised and multiple sets of long claw marks ran criss-crossing across his face and neck. There was a bit of pain in his eyes from what she had instinctually done to him, and tears started to form in her eyes. She never wanted to hurt him, and now his face and neck were bleeding and bruised.

She grabbed onto him and started to cry. Despite the pain he tried to remain calm, for her sake. Denny gently pet the Mew’s dirtied fur as she cried in his arms, and while the other trainer and her Charmander moaned from the pain. All the while ignoring the fact that his Pokédex was flashing a message to him about winning the battle.

* * *

“So you’re actually from Pallet?” the girl asked as she leaned against a tree.

“Yup,” Denny replied as he cleaned Niji’s fur after the fight with the Charmander.

The girl, Rose Simpson, was a new trainer, just like Denny, and had gotten her license and first Pokémon from Professor Oak along with everyone else. She had taken the exam on the actual exam date, and then went back home to wait for the results. When she got them, she had come down with her parents to get her first Pokémon, driving all the way from Celadon. Her parents dropped her off in Pewter as opposed to starting from Pallet, as a lot of trainers sometimes did, going south to train in the Viridian Forest for her first few days of Pokémon training. She had already caught two Pokémon with the help of her Charmander.

As Denny started to finish up cleaning Niji’s fur, Loki walked up and started talking with the Mew. Charmanders were even tempered and really easy to raise for new trainers, and this one was trying to get to know Niji a bit better. He talked and made hand gestures towards the Mew, which didn’t know how to respond to the advances. Niji curled herself in around herself a bit more in Denny’s arms.

“Oh come now,” Denny said, petting Niji behind the ear. “The battle’s over. They aren’t going to attack us anymore. We can be friends.” I’m actually relived that Niji won a match. Now we have a little bit of money to spend on supplies whenever we get out of here, he thought to himself.

Loki started talking to Niji, encouraging the Mew to play around since their trainers weren’t fighting. Warily, Niji floated out of Denny’s arms and around Loki, the Charmander being friendly towards his new friend and tough opponent. Watching Niji fly and talk with the Charmander, Denny stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off his pants.

“So how long have you been in the forest?” he asked.

Rose pushed herself away from the tree she was leaning on. “A few days now. I figured Viridian Forest would be perfect for training before going against Brock.”

“Brock?” Denny said, slightly confused. “Who’s that? Some local trainer?”

“Local trainer?” Rose replied, slightly dumbfounded. “Brock’s the Pewter Gym Leader! You have to defeat him to receive the Boulder Badge. Then you need to get 7 more from the 8 Gyms around Kanto. It’s the only way to advance in the League!” Her outburst made Denny shrink back and gulp down the lump in his throat.

“Only way to advance..?”

“Yup yup!” she added. “There are several ranks in the League. In order to advance you need to catch, battle Pokémon, and collect Gym Badges. At the larger cities in Kanto you can find the Gyms. Once a trainer reaches the Earth Rank, they can compete in the Indigo League Championships.” Something clicked in her mind. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that,” Rose said, leaning in closer and staring Denny in the eyes questioningly.

“Um… No.”

“You mean you didn’t take the exam to become a trainer?” she asked, perplexed. Most of the people she knew wanted to be trainers in order to battle others and gain a good ranking in the League.

Denny shook his head. “I took the exam to take care of Niji,” he admitted. “Plus it gave me a good reason to get out of Pallet and see the rest of Kanto on my own.”

Both of them were quiet as the wind picked up.

“You really didn’t think it through, did you?” she said.

“No,” Denny admitted.

“Even so…,” Rose looked over at Loki and Niji, her Charmander had managed to become friends with Denny’s Pokémon, not that difficult for Loki, who had already made friends with her other two. She looked at Niji, the Mew’s soft fur, and big expressional eyes added to her adorableness.

“Niji’s so cuuuuuuuuuuuuute!” she screeched and dashing right up to Niji, taking the Mew by surprise. Niji, scared, flew off around Rose and behind Denny, using him as a shield.

“Awe,” Rose commented. “She’s shy…”

Niji poked her head out from behind Denny’s shoulder, took a look at Rose, and then ducked back behind her trainer.

Denny smiled. “Yeah she is,” he turned behind him to hold his Mew. “You’re not the first one to claim that Niji’s cute and then try and take her because of that. So she’s a little shy around people who act like it.”

Rose’s smile disappeared from her face. She had been a bit over-anxious to hug and hold the Pokémon, and hadn’t considered that she would have frightened it. Walking slowly towards Denny and Niji, she kept her voice low and calm.

“I’m sorry Niji,” she said. “I don’t want to take you away from Denny, but you were just so cute that I just want to hold you and play with you.” She leaned in closer, getting in eye level with the Mew. “So may I please hold you?”

Niji was afraid. She looked at Denny, who held her gently. He just smiled, giving her his okay. Then the Mew looked at Rose, subconsciously scanning the female’s surface thoughts. She was being sincere, and wanted to hold Niji, but the Mew was still warry.

“Go on Niji, it’ll be okay,” he urged.

Slowly, the Mew floated out of Denny’s arms and into arms reach of Rose. Niji hovered there as well as she could.

“Can I?” Rose asked, making sure the Pokémon would let her.

Wary, slightly afraid of anyone besides Denny holding her, Niji nodded her head.

“Cuuuuuuuuuuuuute!” Rose squeeled again as she held Niji against her cheek. “You’re so soft and small, I wish I could have you around all the time to pet and play with!” Rose was spinning around with Niji in her arms, her mind on Cloud 9. Loki let out a chant of joy of his own at his trainer’s own happiness, the tail on his flame flickering.

“Hey Rose,”

The trainer stopped spinning around with Niji in her hands, the Mew’s eyes were spinning and the Pokémon was feeling really dizzy. “What?”

“You said you’ve been here for the last few days,” he grabbed his backpack and hefted it over his shoulders. “Any idea which way is out?”

She held Niji in one arm and pointed in some direction. “I came in from Pewter City, that way. About a day or two and you can be out of here if you go that way.”

“Cool, come on Niji,” Denny replied. The Mew flew out of Rose’s arms, wobbly and a bit dizzy from Rose twirling around with her. She fell on top of Denny’s head, her head still spinning. “We’ll see you around Rose,” and he started to walk in the direction that Rose had pointed.

“Wait!” Rose grabbed her stuff as well. “I’ll come with you.”

“Huh?!” Denny and Niji both looked at her, confused.

“I’m just about done here,” she looked at Loki who’s body turned into a bright red before the energy deformed and shrank. Condensing, the raw energy formed into a small sphere before the light faded, revealing a Pokéball resting on the ground. After forming into the Pokéball, it bounced, Rose gracefully grabbed the ball and placed it on her belt. “So I’ll go with you to Pewter.”

“Heh,” he replied. “Fair enough.”

“Besides, that means I can hold Niji more!” Rose enthusiastically added. Denny and Niji face faulted on the ground.

* * *

The next two days went by relatively fast. Viridian Forest was notorious for being a massive maze where trainers would get lost easily if they didn’t bring a compass, and didn’t stay for more than a few hours. Between Falco and Rose’s Pidgey, Zephyr, flying ahead and keeping the two on track, the two trainers managed to make their way out of the forest and soon saw Pewter City built upon a rock outcrop about 500 feet above the river valley below.

Pewter City was so named for the grey igneous rock that surrounded the town. Much was made from the rock, sculptures, memorials, even homes were carved from the resilient rock. Much of the valley that held Pewter was volcanic in origin. After several major volcanic eruptions, the massive collapse of a volcano caldera created part of the valley below. A river channel started cutting through the collapsed caldera and added to the formations below Pewter.

With the majority of the city perched upon the edge of a cliff, constant work and analysis of the rock was underway. Should the entire cliff-face fall, then over 60% of the city could be damaged in the land-slide. Cooperation between geologists, physicist, Pokémon, and the city ensured that Pewter would be undamaged. Trees and foliage obscured much of the city from the view of the two trainers, however once they neared the granite carved and molded buildings, they knew they were within the city proper.

The group wandered around, watching as Mankies swung from tree to tree on the edge of the city. Denny managed to use Falco to catch one of them, wasting two Pokéballs in the process. Of course Falco was temperamental, and that didn’t help much with the capture process.

Denny and Rose stopped at the Pokémon Center before continuing to the Gym. Rose wanted to battle Brock for his badge, and Denny and Niji were just following along as observers. Finding the Gym wasn’t difficult, there were signs along the sidewalks that pointed to where the Gym was.

The size of the Gym, made Denny surprised that he didn’t notice it earlier. A massive domed building was standing, separated from the trees that dotted Pewter. It was so huge that it dwarfed the near-by buildings. The Gym at its highest point was probably about four or five stories tall. In front of the dome was a square addition that had the words: Pewter City Gym, in large black, white, and grey lettering. Probably carved from the surrounding granite and gneiss.

Rose and Denny walked in, she checked in with the receptionist at the front desk and then made sure she had the time set for her match ready. It was still early in the season, and whether Rose was actually ready for the fight or not was still unknown. He himself had not done much, if any, training with his Pokémon. Niji was afraid of fighting, Falco just had a bad attitude, and his newest addition to his team didn’t even have a name yet.

“Thank you for registering,” the receptionist said. “We will contact the leader, and he will meet you in the battle arena at the end of the hallway.”

Maybe if Niji saw someone else battle, she wouldn’t so be afraid of it, he thought to himself as he and Rose walked down the corridor to the opening of the main arena.

If Denny was curious about the size of the building on the outside, the answer was what was the dome hid. The battle arena was massive and took up the entire dome interior. Massive rocks and boulders littered the arena. There weren’t even any seats or any indication of places for spectators to sit. A circular set of lights shone down upon the arena, giving the boulders jagged shadows across their surfaces. In the center of the arena, from what could be seen, was a Pokéball design etched into the ground.

Denny let out a low whistle. “This place is huge.”

“Huge, and rocky,” Rose stated. “I’m not sure what type of Pokémon Brock uses.”

“What do you mean?”

“Each Gym Leader specializes in a Type of Pokémon. As part of the League a trainer has to be able to defeat the Gym Leaders. However it’s difficult since the Gym Leader’s types aren’t advertised that much. The information even from veteran trainers is kept secret from any new ones just in case they just use an advantage only from Type alone…” Rose would have continued but was cut off by a deep voice from the other side of the arena.

“Your Rank in the League is also about your skill against the unknown strengths of your opponents. A trainer isn’t given a warning about what Pokémon their opponent is going to use.” Denny, Niji, and Rose looked across the arena to the person standing on a rock several yards away. The man had a square jaw, wild spiky hair, and closed eyes resembling a kitsune. A camouflage tank-top showed off the muscle of his arms and chest, while large pants with three pockets along each outer side of the legs.

“I am Brock,” he said. “The Pewter City Gym Leader.” Brock looked at both trainers standing there. “Um… which one of you is my opponent?”

“I am,” Rose stepped forward. “Rose Simpson.”

“Very well. Select your Pokémon, and we shall get this match underway!”

“Um… Excuse me.” Denny interrupted raising his hand. Brock looked at him, or at least turned his head in Denny’s direction. “There anywhere I can sit while you two go at it?”

“Just grab a seat on any rock,” Brock replied with a smile, pointing over at a set of clumped boulders. “You should be safe over there.”

Should be safe? Denny thought. What kind of a fight is a Gym Challenge anyway?

With Denny and Niji sitting on top of a collection of three similarly sized boulders, he was surprised that he had a good view of the arena. The lights illuminated everything fairly well. There was enough light, that Denny decided to pull out his sketchbook, packed away in his pack. Niji sat carefully in Denny’s lap until he pulled out the book, then she floated up onto his left shoulder as he prepared to draw. Drawing on a whim wasn’t unusual, as the urge to draw had been clawing at him since Viridian Forest and the fight between Niji and Loki. There just hadn’t been time, or a place for it.

As Rose and Brock got ready to square off, Denny had started sketching.

“This is a regulation Match. You can use as many Pokémon as you like in this fight, I will use only two. The point is my defeat through your effort, you’ll win this Gym’s Badge if successful.” Brock held up a small object in his fingers, the Badge itself. “Understood?”

Rose nodded, as she reached for a Pokéball, her Pokédex in the other hand. “I got it. Zephyr!” She threw the sphere with a slight curve, sending it towards a boulder. Exploding into a blast of light and energy, it started to condense in mid air, showing a figure that was stabilizing itself with a flapping motion. The Pokémon that formed was a light tan in color, with a streak of black around the eyes, and a cream colored underbelly with a two mark right between the breast. The Pidgey formed and flew into the air, skimming the boulders.

“The first challenge of this season,” Brock admitted before flinging his own Pokéball into the air. Waiting until it was closer to the ground before dematerializing, the energy crackled and condensed into a spherical form sporting two appendages. As the light faded, the Pokémon resembled a head with a pair of arms jutting out by the edges of the mouth. It had large eyes and a wide mouth, and made completely out of rock. The mark of three was visible on top of the Pokémon’s head. “Geodude, start it off! Tackle!”

The rock Pokémon floated low along the ground, grabbing onto rocks for boosts to its speed, its speed increasing and throwing himself at the Pidgey. Geodudes could float at certain levels. The mineral content of their bodies is mostly magnetite, and using the earths own magnetic field, can alter their composition to repel or attract the earth around them. This advantage reduced the friction beneath them for attacks that required movement and motion.

“Zephyr, Sand Attack!”

Geodude was gaining ground, and gaining it fast. Flapping his wings, Zephyr kicked up a layer of dust and sand that was knocked off of the boulders and rocks covering the battle arena. The kicked up and blasted into Geodude’s face, blasting and eroding part of the rocky Pokémon’s body. With his vision decreased, the Geodude missed his target, flying past and hovering along the ground until he was able to stop.

“Now, Quick Attack!”

In a blur of speed and feathers, Zephyr sped in towards Geodude.

“Defense Curl!”

Wrapping his arms around himself, Geodude turned himself into a sphere of rock and stone. A light sheen reflected from the Pokémon seconds before the Pidgey slammed into him. Hovering above the ground, the attack sent Geodude flying backwards, banking and ricocheting off of several boulders, leaving basketball sized indentions where he connected. Zephyr was slightly injured from hitting the mini-boulder Pokémon, but his attack did little to nothing against the Geodude.

“Use Rock Throw!”

Un-curling from his “travel-sized” defensive position, the Geodude used his arms to grab onto one of the boulders he was going to go past. Swinging around, the Pokémon used his momentum to re-orient himself to face Zephyr, separate the boulder from the floor, and then toss it straight at the bird Pokémon.

“No way!” Rose exclaimed as she saw the boulder break up as it came flying towards her and Zephyr. “Get out of there with Agility!” Her orders came as she herself was running to get out of the way of the attack.

With a similar burst of speed, the Pidgey started dodging the broken up rocks that came flying off from the hurled boulder. He couldn’t avoid all of the damage as he was pelted with debris and rocks hit home on his body. Bird physiology is interesting. Their skeletal structure is pneumatic, giving their bones additional strength compared to mammals of the same size. Bird Pokémon have similar physiology to normal birds, and Zephyr’s stronger bone structure actually helped him to avoid receiving any broken bones from the geologic barrage.

The main boulder crashed down and broke apart around where Rose had been standing. Now she was moving around, trying to keep an eye on Zephyr. Brock was doing something similar, however he was running around the arena, jumping from boulder to boulder, keeping the higher ground for his vantage, while Rose had the ground view.

“No wonder he said should be safe.” Denny muttered as he watched the dust cloud rise from the impact, and he could feel the shockwave under his rump.

“Take Down!”

Geodude started grabbing onto boulders and rocks, gaining more speed with the reduction of friction from his hovering. The rock Pokémon was heading straight in for a reckless attack, ignoring his own safety.

“Gust!”

Zephyr, despite the bruises from the Geodude’s previous attack, started flapping his wings rapidly, picking up dirt and rocks from the arena and sweeping them towards Geodude. The wind and abrasion didn’t stop the rock Pokémon as he became faster, and then launched himself at the Pidgey, hitting the bird Pokémon hard and sending him crashing down to the ground. Zephyr was bruised, injured, and tried to force itself up to stand on his feet. He wasn’t completely out of the fight, but how much more fight he had left in him was still in the air.

“Rock Slide!”

Geodude curled up once more, and started bouncing around the arena, sending large chunks of boulders into the air, each one arching towards the weakened Zephyr.

“Mirror Move!”

The Pidgey let out a series of chirps as a reflective surface seemed to materialize between him and the Geodude. Rocks started hitting the surface, and were rebound back at the Geodude, however the attack wasn’t able to repel all the rocks as Zephyr was pelted with a magnitude of rocks himself. Zephyr’s strength had been weakened with the fight, and the Mirror Move was a powerful ability that would send attacks back at the users, however because of the Pidgey’s weakened and young state, his own attack wasn’t as effective as it could have been. The Geodude, however, was completely covered in a mass of boulders larger than his own body, while Zephyr was only half buried. Zephyr stumbled around, trying to stay up, but couldn’t. He collapsed upon the rocky ground.

As his body fell, his form dissipated into red colored energy. The energy turned into the Pokéball and the ball bounced into the air, towards Rose. She caught the ball and skidded to a stop to consider her options.

That’s what happens when a bird goes up against rock. But at least I was able to get him down to one Pokémon left… She rolled the options over in her head. “I’ll go with, Loki!” and she threw a new Pokéball.

The light and energy formed into the energetic Charmander. The fire salamander narrowed his eyes and growled, ready for anything, his tail burning strongly.

“Okay, we’re ready Brock. Who’s next?!”

“Geodude, now!”

A bulge started to form just in front of the boulder pile, following the movement of something underground. The uplifted path curved towards Loki, as the Charmander and his trainer watched in surprise. Geodude burst forth from the dirt and gravel of the arena floor and slammed into Loki from below the Charmander’s feet. Loki flipped in the air, bruised from the attack and dug his claws into the earth to stabilize his trajectory. His attempt left a yard long trench up to the base of a boulder behind him.

“Now, Submision!”

Geodude came flying towards Loki, using more of the rock formations as a means of increasing his own speed.

“Leer Loki!”

The Charmander narrowed his eyes and gave the Geodude a look that could freeze anyone in their tracks. Such a diversion wasn’t particularly useful, but it did distract the Geodude enough that Loki could get out of the way, by scrambling up the boulder behind him. The Geodude slammed into the boulder as Loki made his way to the top. Now standing on top of a boulder, the Charmander glared down at his opponent, who had broken a good chunk of the boulder with his face. Loki laughed, his tail burning fiercely, and the Geodude looked up at the reptile with an injured face and glared.

“Strength!”

Taking advantage of Loki’s current position, the Geodude grabbed onto the boulder that the Charmander was standing. With leverage and strength, the rock Pokémon heaved the boulder up and out of the arena floor, with the Charmander still on top, clinging for his little life.

“Ember!”

Unable to inhale and call the flame from within, Loki cracked his tail like a whip, sending bits of flame towards his opponent. Geodude felt little as the flames touched his body and scorched his skin. Rock was resistant to flame, and with that Geodude had the advantage against the Charmander.

“Now Seismic Toss!”

“Ember once more!”

Loki cracked his tail again, sending a rain of flaming embers down upon the Geodude, making contact with the rock Pokémon’s body. The flames hit Geodude’s head and lower arms, leaving burn marks where they made contact. Not dismayed by the fire, Geodude heaved the boulder and used his body as a leaver, throwing his strength in with his arms. Something was wrong. His body was hot from the two fire attacks, weakening his rocky arms, causing Geodude’s throw with the boulder to be off.

“Bide!”

The boulder shattered as it connected. Breaking apart into shards of what it was, the damage dealt was not as much had Geodude maintained complete control of the attack. Loki took the hit as the boulder connected with the ground, shattering. After the rocks loosened up, Loki was clinging to the side of another boulder, energy swirling around him. He glared at the Geodude, energy coursing through the Charmander’s small body and his tail burning like the sun. The energy from the attack was absorbed and condensed into the aura surrounding the fire lizard. Launching himself from the rock face, Loki used the energy to give him a high-powered attack at the expense of his own health.

“Defense Curl!”

Connecting with the curled Geodude, Loki sent a massive burst of energy through the defensive mechanism. The resulting recoil sent Geodude flying backwards, bursting through several boulders before coming to a stop, wedged inside of the last. Right by where Denny and Niji were sitting, causing the two to jump and avoid being hit. Loki breathed hard, his flame not burning as brightly as before, but still a roaring flame. The Geodude was stuck inside the boulder. A large amount of damage had been done due to the last-second timing of the attack, and the rock Pokémon couldn’t continue. His body broke down into energy and recalled into the Pokéball before rolling out of the middle of the boulder and then bounding into Brock’s hand.

“A fair technique,” he admitted as he grabbed his second Pokéball. “I never thought this early in the season we’d find some advanced strategies.”

“We’ve been working hard on our battle plan and quick reflexes before coming after you.” Rose replied. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a cake-walk.” Loki chimed in an agreement.

“Indeed,” Brock replied before throwing his next Pokéball. Seconds after being released, the ball exploded into light that seemed to fill the whole arena. The energy threatened to keep expanding until it started to condense into a solid form. Several spheres formed, lined up one after another. One, at the far end, had a strange structure that protruded from the upper edge. As the glow faded, it was shown that each sphere that had formed was a separate segment of the body, all solid rock. The Pokémon that appeared was a massive snake made of several boulders and the number one at the center of the head crest..

“Onix!” Brock shouted. “Double-Edge!”

A grey aura surrounded Onix, her body curling and charging more energy. She snapped forward, launching herself full speed at Loki, energy warped around its form.

“Watch it!”

Loki dove out of the way as Onix came rushing by, slamming full force into a set of boulders. The massive rocks shattered from the impact, sending pieces flying all across the arena. Loki was hit by the barrage of rocks and debris from the attack, and was lucky enough the energy didn’t completely vaporize him.

“Slash!”

“Screech!”

Loki rushed in, his small claws poised and ready to rake across the Onix’s boulder skin. The Onix, just a bit faster than the Charmander, curled her head back, and let out a nails-on-chalkboard pitched sound wave that stopped Loki in his tracks and blew him backwards from the force. Everyone’s ears were ringing, everyone’s except for Onix’s that is. The rock snake was immune to her own screech, commonly using it to disable her prey before attacking.

“Bind it now!”

Onix started to curl around Loki, who was holding his hands over his ears, still in pain from the other Pokémon’s attack. Encircling the Charmander, she constricted her boulder-like coils, encasing the fire Pokémon in hard-edged, crushing rock.

Rose was unable to hear herself, let alone expect Loki to hear her attacks. As her ears cleared, she could hear Loki shouting out in pain.

“Loki, Rage!”

The Charmander was in a world of pain right now. Pain that he was starting to turn into anger, and that anger gave him strength. With each constriction from Onix, Loki’s anger grew, and so did his strength. He thrashed around, biting at whatever his mouth could reach, kicked, and started to roar in frustration. Onix continued the hold, slowly clasping her coils tighter and tighter around the Charmander, sucking the life out of him.

Rose’s Pokédex was beeping at her, warning her of Loki’s low energy and health. She knew Loki could pull through the fight, however being able to do so may not have been the best of plans. Now she saw her first Pokémon, losing this fight at the risk of his own life. He was starting to be consumed by the Rage, and anything else but orders to attack could get ignored.

“Loki return!”

Loki’s body turned into energy and then condensed into the Pokéball before bouncing back towards Rose’s hand. The Onix uncoiled and slithered around the arena, blending in with the rocks scattered across it. Rose reached for her next Pokémon, her last effort against this Gym Leader and his rock Pokémon.

“I choose, Nymph!” and she threw the ball high into the air.

[Mew Master]

In the common explosion of light and energy, the energy condensed into a form similar to Loki’s height, except wider. The far edges started to move in a flapping motion, and in the center were two thin strings of light with small spheres at the end. With the light diminished, it showed an insect-like Pokémon. A pair of big, black and white, wings with the three mark on the outer edge of the wing. The body was a dark purple, with large, insectoid, red eyes and a pair of light blue arms and legs.

“Nymph, use Confusion!”

The Butterfree’s eyes started to glow and her antennae started to emanate an attack along mental pathways. Brock and Onix, as well as Denny and Niji could feel the effect as the domed building amplified the signal. Niji held her head long before the attack reached them. Her sensitivity to the mental wavelength made it dangerous for anyone or anything to use Psychic-based attacks. The major one affected by the attack was Onix. The attack was meant to temporarily scramble brain synapse processes and disorient the opponent. While Onix and rock Pokémon were strong physically, they were weak to mental attacks. With the attack, there was a chance that anyone on the receiving end of the attack would succumb to disorienting confusion, injuring themselves in their disorientation.

Onix roared at her own confusion and started to crash around the arena, shattering boulders with her strength and armor. Even as Brock tried to snap her out of the confusion, the Pokémon just started attacking him.

“Now, Stun Spore!”

Nymph flew above Onix and started to flap her wings faster and faster, shedding scales from her wings and letting them fall on the air above Onix. Through her thrashing, Onix was unable to even try and avoid the falling spores as they landed on her boulder-conglomerated body. The toxin within the spores would seep in on contact with the skin, a soluble lipid layer that even the rough hide of Onix couldn’t defend against. The toxins shut off muscle twitch fiber by cutting off the synapses found within the muscles themselves. Unable to hold themselves up, those that are affected by the Stun Spores find themselves weak and trapped within their own body.

Onix crashed to the ground, confusion still pooling around her mind while her body refused to respond. Brock’s command for her to return to the Pokéball reduced the massive rock serpent back into her capture device.

“Well, that was an intense match,” Brock commented as he put the Pokéball back onto his belt.

“Yeah,” Rose agreed. Both trainers were breathing hard, running along to keep up with their Pokémon as the battle raged across the massive arena. More than half of the boulders were destroyed in the course of the fight: some by Brock’s Geodude, and others by his Onix in a confused rage.

“Well, as promised, here is your Badge.” He hopped from boulder to boulder before jumping down and presenting it to her.

“Ha!” she shouted. “One down and eight to go!”

“Good job Rose!” Denny shouted, leaning out and over his current rock perch. The boulder was unstable from Geodude slamming into it and it crumbled under his weight, leaving Denny falling over and being covered in parts of rocks and dirt. Niji flew down, worried about him.

* * *

After a trip to the Pokémon Center for both trainers and Brock, the three exited the building. Denny had been hard at work while the battle was going on. Watching the fight gave him some incredible insights into different ways of viewing Pokémon in action. While a camera would be useful, he preferred the pencil and paper approach. It takes more skill to draw action while it is happening right infront of you than to take a picture of the action.

At least that’s how Denny saw it.

He gave both Brock and Rose a gift before he and Niji left Pewter. Brock opened his first, and saw that it was a sketch of the battle between Onix and Loki, when Onix had used Double-Edge and smashed the boulder, and Loki diving away from it. The drawing was so good, so intense that it was almost like he was re-living the battle.

Rose saw what Denny had drawn for Brock and just kept hers folded up. She slipped it into a separate pocket in her pack. Looking at Denny and holding Niji gently, she convinced him that she’d travel around with him.

Better for two trainers to face the world than one, right?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nothing beyond the next horizon is known. When traveling underground, the darkness below is sometimes illuminated by the light of discovery. As Rose and Denny explore Mount Moon, the light at the end of the tunnel, isn’t always an escape.

Next: Beneath the Dark Side of the Moon

[Charles Legend]

well I must say this is qite an amusing fic so far, I really like how you portray Mew, also looks like Denny got a Girlfriend now... ;)

~Charles Legend

[Shuppet Master]

So, Denny didn't try for a badge?

Interesting story so far. Looks like Rose is going to get the badges and Denny's just going to be a Pokemon watcher. Interesting.

Still can't figure out the title.

[Mew Master]

Chapter 3: Beneath the Dark Side of the Moon

The forest outside of Pewter City was thick with pine trees and a few cottonwoods. The drastic terrain of the region meant that only certain plants could survive. Igneous rocks and formations made the north eastern part of Kanto a rough area. Rivers through the area create drastic vertical cliffs with colorful displays of chemically stained rock. Mount Moon is considered the eastern end of the Silver Range that spanned both Kanto and Johto. Kanto is mostly a volcanic area, with ancient lava flows and deposits from Mount Silver along the western edge of the region.

Such drastic topography is be noticed when seen from high elevations. East of Mount Moon, the geography begins to level out, closer to the ocean edge of the Kanto region. If someone from Pewter were to dig straight down, it would take two feet of digging before they hit the hard igneous rock that the city is built upon. Someone digging in Lavender would have to go over 50 feet before they hit any volcanic bedrock. Millions of years of erosion had caused the formation of the flatlands. The silica-rich deposits that are found around Kanto can be traced back to the Silver Mountain Range. Such composition makes the region difficult to farm and produce, leaving the majority of Kanto cities to rely on imports from other regions including Johto.

For Denny, Niji, and Rose, the landscape was something amazing.

Going eastwards from Pewter, the group went down into a river valley. Following the river, they followed the trails back into the rocky volcanic hills of northern Kanto. Part-way between Pewter and Cerulean was Mount Moon, an impassible landmark due to steep sides and threat of rock-slides from higher up the peak. Within a mile of the mountain, a Pokémon Center set up as a rest area.

The Center’s structure was built into the surrounding mountain, allowing a breathtaking view of both the landscape as well as the geology of the mountains. It also served as a small tourist attraction because of this design. Posters explaining the geology of the Silver Mountain Range dotted the walls as large class windows showed the sun set off in the west, dropping past the slope of Mount Moon itself, the light trickling in through the pine trees rooted on the sides. There was a board that showed the images of persons who had gone missing within the tunnels of Mount Moon, letting trainers know to keep an eye out and to be careful when traveling the catacombs.

Denny, Niji, and Rose watched as the sun set, from the comfort of the Pokémon Center’s food area. The three had been traveling for three days since Pewter City. Over the time, Denny had spent his time drawing in his sketchbook. Rose had to admit that he was good at drawing, something she was only slightly decent at. But she was better at Pokémon battling and had that against him. However, Niji was cute, and Rose spent the time that they rested, petting, hugging, and playing with the Mew.

They had caught a few Pokémon along Route 3. There were the common Pidgey and Rattata common to all of Kanto, but they also saw other Pokémon along the way. Denny caught an Ekans and a Sandshrew near some of the loose rock and soil, while Rose caught a Poliwag from the river they passed after leaving Pewter.

Rose was better at battling, and due to the Indigo League rules, she had the majority of the money. Among the trainers that they had faced, Denny won as many battles as he lost, ending up barely gaining any money through the process. Rose, however, continued to have a better winning average than him, which meant their current meal was on her.

As the three sat there, filling up on food from the Center’s cafeteria, they looked out and watched the sunset cast long shadows along Mount Moon.

“According to the ‘Dex,” Denny commented, searching through the Pokédex for information on the area. “Mount Moon is an old landmark that was used in early settlement of Kanto. The topography won’t let anyone cross over it, so the only way is to use the natural caves that honeycomb their way through the mountain.”

“Well, going through it tonight isn’t going to be a good idea,” Rose added, as she held Niji close to her while the Mew ate. “By the time we reached the cave it would be too dark to set up camp, and the only shelter would be inside the caves, which aren’t lighted anyway.”

“A good night’s sleep on a bed will help out anyway,” he replied. “Sleeping on rocks isn’t good for the back.”

Rose stood up and let Niji out of her arms, setting her gently on the table. “I’m going to head to my room and grab a shower before getting to bed. It’ll be the last chance we’ll have until we get to Cerulean.” Grabbing her things she headed to the room.

Denny sat there and munched on the last of his food, watching as the sun finally sank down below the horizon. Just over a week and he was already so far from Pallet that he could hardly believe it. He was seeing the world finally, and he was going to have fun with it. The problem was that he could not battle as well as Rose. His traveling partner was a great battler and strategist, the fight with Brock and the trainers heading to and from Mount Moon showed that.

Niji didn’t like fighting, and his other Pokémon were still wet behind the ears against other trainers. When he did win, he won on a fluke if anything, and he realized that. What he needed was a good Pokémon, a strong one if he wanted to keep gaining the money for keeping his Pokémon healthy and caring for Niji properly.

How to care for a Pokémon that no one knew about except from legends? It was kind of difficult and Denny second guessed himself several times about the proper way to care for her. Whenever he looked at the Mew, she seemed happy, smiling back at him and using his head as a resting pad while they traveled. She was young and was still learning about her abilities. Denny hadn’t used her in any battles since against Rose, now that he had other Pokémon to accept challenges with, he made sure that she didn’t fight, even when he could call on her for a fight, he avoided it.

He cleaned up the table of his trash and Niji floated to rest on his head. After disposing of his trash Denny started to walk around the Pokémon Center, at the various trainers and tourists. Many of them had their Pokémon out of their containment, interacting and showing them off to everyone else. They were stopping because trying to cross the distance to Mount Moon was a suicide run at night, unless there was a full moon.

Walking amongst the trainers he was surprised to see veterans as well as new trainers talking and sharing information on training techniques and battle strategies. He tried to listen in on a few, but didn’t want to make a pest of himself, so Denny wandered to the store of the Center, looking for something that might help improve his skills would be a good idea, but just spending his money randomly wasn’t useful either. He passed the board with images of missing persons that vanished within Mount Moon, looking them over just in case he actually saw them, or their remains.

“Hey, kid with the Pokémon on his head.”

Denny jumped slightly and looked around. Sure enough, he was the only one with a Pokémon on his head. He looked around the center. There was a small group around the counter to the store, and others walking past in the direction he just came from.

“No, no. Over here.”

He spun around and saw a man sitting on the floor near a support column. The man was overweight, wearing dark shades and had a handlebar mustache. A wide towel was sitting in front of him. Resting on the towel were some books, little figurines, a few wrapped up parchments, and a handful of Pokéballs sitting there.

“Hello son,” the man said, fanning himself with a small white paper fan with a red circle in the middle. “Whatever you’re lookin’ for, I ‘ave it here.”

“Uh… Sure,” Denny replied sarcastically before starting to walk away.

“Wait! Don’t you want to be stronger?” the man asked, a twinkle in his eye behind the shades.

Stronger? Denny thought. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I ‘ave access ao the most powerful Pokémon in Kanto, and if yer ‘nterested, I can give ye a discount.”

“Discount? What powerful Pokémon?”

The man snickered before picking up one of the Pokéballs and holding it close so Denny could see it. “Behold,” he said in a low voice. “Magikarp, a ‘trong Pokémon able ta control the tides the’selves. And it be going at a special price for ye.”

“How much?”

“¥500,” the man said smiling.

“WHAT?!” Denny said, shocked and appalled. “That’s outrageous! No one would pay that.”

“Aye,” the man replied. “Normal trainers wouldn’t because th’y fear the power o’ the Magikarp. I guarantee that no one will stand in yer way with this fine Pokémon. And all it costs is ¥500.”

Denny weighed his options. Could he actually trust this guy, who didn’t fit in with the regular shopping center? Was it really worth blowing the money he had managed to scrounge together and buy a single Pokémon as opposed to getting items that could help him survive battles? Could he really afford to lose every single match from here on in?

In the end, Denny gave in. Handing the man his money, Denny received one Pokémon in trade. Grasping the ball in his hand he and Niji continued back to his room, as the old man snickered to himself.

They continued down the hallway until they heard running behind them and the shouting of officers. Denny looked behind him and stepped to the side as the man he had just bought from came running by, the mustache hanging on by a thread and glasses resting on his forehead, holding his wares under his arm, being followed by two security officers. He heard them shout at the man to stop, and something about shenanigans.

“What’s going on?” he asked some observers as they followed the pursuit.

“That guy’s a con-man. He’s been ripping off trainers and tourists by selling them fake items and selling out really dumb Pokémon for outrageous prices,” and that was all Denny caught as the others ran past.

“A… a rip-off?”

* * *

“I can’t believe you fell for that!” Rose exclaimed as they walked towards the entrance of Mount Moon, following a shallow stream. Denny was walking along, feeling low-witted and kicking himself for falling for an obvious ploy for power. “Just because you see Magikarp merchandise everywhere doesn’t make the Pokémon powerful, or even useful.”

Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes, and Denny was feeling the effect since the last of his earned money bought the Magikarp. Magikarp are common in every body of water throughout the world. They are so common in every aquatic environment, that their specific ecological niche is up to question. Their body is covered in thick scales, and has stringy muscles that make it physically weak. To compensate for this, the tiny fish Pokémon is able to survive in any environment, no matter how polluted the water is. Their reproductive output is high, using numbers to increase their survivability.

“Besides, if you really wanted one that badly, we could have fished one out of the river…”

“You don’t need to continually rub it in,” Denny replied, slouching in discontent.

“Well you can get rid of it at the next river we come to.”

“Get rid of it?!” Denny exclaimed. “But I spent my entire savings on it! I’m not just going to throw him away.”

“Quit complaining,” Rose snapped back. “You bought something useless and now you refuse to get rid of it. Don’t come complaining to me if it comes back to bite you.” Rose sighed. “Besides, we’re here.”

Denny and Rose looked at the massive mountain that loomed above them. The peak stretched into the sky, darkened from the sun rising behind it. Pine trees created a spine blanket that seemed to wrap the entire mountain and surrounding landscape. Up close, however, the cave entrance beckoned them. The cave mouth was large, stalactites and stalagmites based around like teeth, the darkness beyond a soul-crushing black.

“We’re going in that?”

“That’s the plan,” Rose replied, scrambling through her pack for something. She pulled out a flashlight and one of her Pokéballs. “Time to shed some light on the situation.”

With a flash of light, Loki materialized from his Pokéball. The Charmander smiles at Niji before he and his trainer started to walk into the cave. Denny followed, digging around in his pack for a flashlight of his own. With Rose’s flashlight and Loki’s tail, the tunnel was illuminated. Crevasses carved into the rock by Onix trails honey-combed their way through the large mountain.

The noticeable thing about Mount Moon, was that it wasn’t completely comprised of igneous rocks, like the majority of the Silver Range. The mountain was supported by a base of sedimentary rock, with igneous rock forming the upper half. While walking through the cave, the humans and Pokémon could see the transition as the cave dipped down into the base formations. Layers of sandstone, siltstone, and limestone changed as they went lower into the stratigraphy.

Exiting from the cave, they found themselves in a large cavern. The light from Loki’s tail reflected from water still in the cave, and the sound of rushing water echoed through the cavern. Caverns formed from water percolating through the more porous layers. Limestone was eroded by the water flow, creating a cave by dissolving the limestone and carving out the sediment. This massive cave was formed by the same processes, using the water coming from the river and eroding the sedimentary rock, flowing through and emptying out at some point on the east point of the mountain, flowing by Cerulean City and to the open sea.

The group explored the cavern, sometimes running into other trainers who were on their way through to either Pewter or Cerulean. Rose battled those that wanted a fight, while Denny tried to sketch with Niji holding the flashlight. While watching Rose battle, Denny started to question how useful his Magikarp, who he named Loch, would be. The Pokédex didn’t give any tips for raising a Magikarp, and all the information stated the tiny fish Pokémon lacked any abilities other than being highly reproductive and resilient to pollution.

He refused to think that the Pokémon was useless. Every Pokémon was good at something, had some ability. And apparently this one was it’s toxin resistance and reproductive cycle. It was also partly because Denny had felt useless compared to Rose. Rose was a competent trainer, while he could barely get his Spearow to follow his directions in battle. She had also studied hard for the exam, working to be a trainer since before she turned 16, while he jumped in last minute and wasn’t even sure what he wanted to do.

Pokémon battles were a regular part of a trainer’s life. Even if he wasn’t trying for the League championship, how was he going to prove his worthiness for caring for Niji? If he could raise Loch to be strong and healthy, then maybe he would have a better idea for Niji. This cavern had a body of water in it, a diverged flow coming from the main river that cut part of the valley. Taking the flashlight, and letting Rose continue her battles, he walked towards the sound of rushing water. A waterfall nearby, and water feeding it.

The light reflected off the surface of a flow of water, and Denny grabbed the Pokéball that held Loch. He threw it towards the water, and the ball burst into energy, reforming underwater. The energy contorted, forming into a fusiform shape, with large barbules on the top and bottom of the form. With the fading light, Denny could see the red scaled body of the Magikarp. A single pair of whiskers stretched out from either side of his mouth, and his eyes were wide and blank. On Loch’s dorsal fin was a marker with the number six.

“Heya Loch,” Denny said, kneeling near the water’s edge, the Pokémon’s form blurred by the water refraction. The Pokémon just flailed around in the water, pushed around by the current. Something slammed into the Pokémon and Loch started to lose control of his place in the water column. Pushed towards the edge of the flow. “Loch, be careful… Loch!” Denny stood and started to run, following the body of water as the Magikarp was carried away by the current.

The water flow was picking up, and the Pokémon was having trouble keeping up with the current. Its body was thrashed around as the water took it closer towards the sound of the rapids, and Denny was running faster, trying to reach for it, shouting at his Pokémon to return to his Pokéball. The Magikarp was concentrating more on trying to stabilize himself in the water, just before he was taken over the edge.

“LOCH!” Denny shouted as he realized what happened. He would have fallen over the edge if Niji didn’t follow and move in front of him and bracing him. She pushed him back and he fell hard on his rump.

Rose came running up, her flashlight flashing in his face and Loki breathing hard after the last match.

“What happened? You okay?”

“Loch..” Denny mumbled. “Loch’s down there!”

“Loch?”

“My Magikarp.”

“What?! You mean you let it go?!”

“No I didn’t let it go! I was trying to figure out how to take care of him so that everyone won’t think he’s useless!”

While this shouting match was going on, echoing through the cavern, Niji and Loki were trying to calm down their trainers by getting in between them and holding them back. The two of them stared at each other, stubborn and iron-willed. Niji’s head was starting to hurt from the surface emotions she could feel off of both of them. Anger, desperation, surprise, shock, sadness, the strong emotions started to strain her sensitive abilities.

Denny backed down first, looking at the rushing water as it fell down into a lower pool. “Loch’s down there, I know it.”

“You can’t be serious.” Rose replied. “Moon’s a maze of tunnels and caverns, we’d get lost so easily that we’d die down here.”

“Then follow the water. It should lead out of here somewhere.”

“Or lead to the ground water,” Rose said, folding her arms. “And then we’d both be sunk.”

“Then I’ll go alone,” he looked at her, serious as he clicked on a flashlight. “Come on Niji.” The Mew floated behind him and then rested on his shoulder. Rose couldn’t believe her ears. He was serious about going after a Magikarp!

“Wait up!” she shouted as she and Loki ran after him. “You won’t get too far in here!”

* * *

Officials of both Cerulean and Pewter had marked the main path through Mount Moon. Structural geologists had taken their time in analyzing safe paths through the massive mountain, and reinforcing them along the way. Other paths were not marked, as they were outside of the main path. Onix tunnels criss-crossed the entire mountain and the river system created multiple caverns throughout the underground. The marked path through the rock actually went through a few differing caverns interconnected with tunnels.

Denny, Niji, Rose, and Loki were currently following any path that seemed to take them closer to the water. Some tunnels ended in cliffs that were created by water flowing down and eroding the sedimentary layers, following the path of lease resistance. Between the two flashlights and the Charmander’s tail, they brought light down into a part of the world where light had never existed, or had a reason to.

They could hear Pokémon scattering away, digging into the sides of the caves to escape the light and the danger that such an unknown thing could pose. There were a few glimpses of Sandshrew and Paras eyes staring back, before scampering back into their own crevasses carved into the caves. Along the trek, the sound of water faded in and out as they continued to descend through the sedimentary layers.

“I’ve lost track of how far we’ve gone,” Denny commented, winded.

Rose leaned against the side of the cave before sliding down. “We’ve been going for a few hours at least, and had to back-track once or twice.”

Opening a canteen, Denny took a drink gulping the water down. He gasped, gained his breath again, and then stated, “I hope Loch’s alright.”

“You could always catch a new one,” Rose replied. “Magikarp are a dime-a-dozen.”

“But they aren’t the same.” He looked at her. “I may have screwed up and spent all of the money I had been able to gain through luck on a common Pokémon, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going after him because I spent so much. I’m going after him because he’s an individual. Pokémon of the same kind may be the same, but they’re different in other ways. I wanted to get to know the differences of Loch before we got through the mountain, hopefully I could have figured out something more about him.” He hung his head low, his hair covering his eyes. “But now… it looks like we won’t find him at this rate.”

Rose was quiet. Sure Denny wasn’t the best trainer in the world, but he cared for his Pokémon so much. He watched after Niji after she was injured, he cared for his other Pokémon too, slowly gaining their trust. He may not be able to come up with strategy, but he did have a way towards Pokémon that she didn’t see in other trainers. He treated them as friends and family.

Niji nuzzled against Denny, feeling the humans emotions. She wanted him to feel better, but was unsure how. Losing Loch was scary for him, and was even scarier for her because he nearly ran off a waterfall going after the Magikarp. She hugged him as best her small arms could, wanting to comfort him.

The Mew’s ears twitched. Something was going on nearby. Niji looked around, from the light of Loki’s tail and the two flashlights, she couldn’t see anything. Something was there though, she could hear it, almost feel it resonate through the cave. She got everyone’s attention by chanting and mewing before flying off down the tunnel.

Denny, Rose, and Loki pushed themselves up, trying to follow the Mew. Something had caught Niji’s attention, and they were following, struggling to keep the lights on her. They ran after the Mew, nearly tripping over stones and rocks through the roughly dug cave. Their lights bobbed as they tried to keep track of the floating Pokémon as she curved around corners, stopped to listen, and then continued on. Something was bothering the Mew, and Denny, Rose, and Loki followed her as best they could.

Mew started to slow down and then stopped. The humans and Charmander caught up with her and had to catch their breath, gasps echoing through the cave.

“Niji *gasp* what *GASP* What’s wrong?” Denny tried to say, breathing hard.

Rose struggled to regain her breath too, one hand against the wall to steady herself. Even Loki was panting hard, just as if he had gotten out of a battle. Niji floated down, resting on the floor and arching her head, her ears constantly twitching. Denny watched his Mew for a response, but Niji’s attention was diverted. He tried looking around, listening above the sound of heavy breathing (even his own) and watching where his light touched rock. Looking up he could see light reflected back.

Was it water? Something refracting the light back to him? Denny turned off his flashlight and looked. The light was still there, farther down the tunnel.

“Hey Rose,” he said. “Turn off your light and recall Loki.”

“What?” she replied, still catching her breath. “Why?”

“There’s light up that way,” he said, trying to regulate his breathing back to normal.

“You sure,” Rose looked herself, experimenting with her own tests before acknowledging it. “Yeah, there’s a light up there. Come back Loki.”

The Charmander returned to his Pokéball and Rose caught it before turning off her own light. Carefully, the three started making their way towards the light, Niji perched on Denny’s shoulder. The cave tunnel they were in started to turn upwards at an incline. Sore muscles worked to get them up the incline and closer to the light. It could be a way out, or back to the main path.

Thoughts of finally getting out of Mount Moon’s tunnel system were dashed to bits as they neared the source of the light. Sounds of men shouting orders and the hard grinding of machinery made their way to Denny and Rose’s ears. The chink of pickaxe mixed with the grinding of shovels, men shouting orders, machinery, and even the grunting of someone or something as they worked. As Denny, Niji, and Rose neared the exit of the cave tunnel, they saw that the light that they had seen was actually one of many lights secured into the rock ceiling using a scaffolding.

As they reached the ending of the tunnel, both of the humans gasped in shock.

Before them was a massive cavern, larger than the main one marked as the route to Cerulean City. The exit of their cave was already a hundred foot drop onto hardened rock and stone. Huge stalactites and stalagmites kept the roof from collapsing, the larger ones were surrounded by support structures that also connected to the light scaffolding. More support columns were erected and added extra support to the cavern ceiling, noticeable because they didn’t match the surrounding geology. There was a large body of water far off to the left of where Denny and Rose stood, it was almost still, but the light illuminating the area showed a slow moving body of water.

Bright lights hung from the scaffolding secured to the ceiling, illuminating everything from above. There were massive lights on the ground, further brightening this dark world. Huge machines with a crimson R on each side pushed tons of earth and gravel out of the way, exposing fresh rock bedding planes. As the machines rolled past, people dressed in pitch-black uniforms with bright red R’s on the torso area, rushed in with shovels and pickaxes, and started breaking up the fresh rock. Pokémon were also used in the excavation. A massive horned creature with armor that resembled rock used its horn to drill through rock, sanding it down, or destroying it. One four-armed humanoid Pokémon hefted large boulders out of the ground and threw them into the piles of used earth and dirt that had been pushed aside by the machines. There was a massive coalition between humans and Pokémon to unearth something.

Several tents were erected a bit away from the main excavation, and lights illuminated everything in the camp. Field markers were set up, breaking down older sites into grids divided by orange string.

“What is this?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know…” Denny replied. “But I think they’re looking for something.” Niji shrank behind Denny, just peeking her head out at the sight. She mewed lightly, so that Denny could hear her. “Niji, you don’t know what’s going on do you?” The Mew shook her head, but she did float around to the other side of his back to point towards the water at the other end of the excavation. “You think Loch is down there?” Niji nodded to him.

“Wait,” Rose said, seeing the thought brewing in his head. “You aren’t serious?! We have no idea what they’re doing down there, even who they are.”

An explosion rocked the cavern, causing Denny and Rose to drop to the ground of the cave. Parts of the cave dropped on them as the shockwave rocked through the rock formations.

One of the machines had been damaged, smoke flowing into the cavern. Fires started to roar from the damaged vehicle. The personnel started giving it a wide breath as several Pokémon erupted from the front end of the machine. Their bodies were round, with stout legs and a wedge-shaped head. The spherical bodies were made of molded boulders and rock. Three curled into their bodies and started to roll around, knocking the humans over and damaging more equipment. Others started tossing boulders at everything they could.

The humans released Pokémon to battle the wild ones, and some just threw black Pokéballs that connected with the bodies and capturing the wild rock Pokémon without so much as a fight. The exchange of forces lasted less than a few minutes, with the black clothed humans as the victors with new Pokémon and then continued with their work. From their vantage point, Denny, Niji, and Rose were awed by the power and control this group of humans showed.

“Just who are these guys?” he asked, Niji still keeping him between them and her.

“Maybe,” Rose commented as she thought.

“What?”

Rose started crawling back down the tunnel, away from the mouth of the cave and the lights from the excavation before she replied. “I heard somewhere about a syndicate that specializes in stealing rare and unique Pokémon, then using them to make a profit. I thought it was just a myth,” she commented, looking back at the cave entrance. “But now…”

“Loch’s down there, somewhere.” Denny said. “I have to get him back before I lose him again.”

“You’re nuts,” she said. “We have no idea if this is the syndicate or some mining operation.”

“And that’s why we have to be careful.”

“Ooooooh no. You are not dragging me along again.”

“Look, if it was one of your Pokémon, wouldn’t you go after them?”

“Well..”

“Well I am, and I will. I refuse to leave Loch behind.” Denny started moving down the cave, looking for any cave that would take them closer to ground level. Rose just stared at him, dumbfounded once again. He was really serious. Not only had he managed to drag her down into the bowels of Mount Moon, he was going to try and infiltrate a mining operation that was probably a cover for a crime organization!

The three continued moving through the cave tunnels. Following Niji’s direction, they followed the Mew down the incline, going farther down into the mountain base. There were several turns along the path, with Niji stopping several times, listening. After several minutes, Denny and Rose could then hear the machinery again, echoing loudly in the tunnel. Carefully they stepped closer to the mouth of the cave. The cave exit turned slightly before exiting out into the cavern, the bend in some rock Pokémon trail.

They looked out, into the cavern. Boxes of supplies were stacked along next to the exit. Strobe lights illuminated the path, which was worn dirt and some exposed rod bed. There were a few black-clad people walking around in pairs further down the path where it crossed other paths through the camp.

“Ground level,” Denny whispered.

“Secret organizations, earth loaders, stolen Pokémon.” Rose added.

Niji looked and started pulling on Denny’s collar, pulling him back. He and Rose hid back behind the turn in the tunnel. Anymore and they would stumble around loose rocks and grit, alerting them to their presence. Rose slipped, a rock landing on her foot, she started to let out a shout of pain, Denny and Niji’s hands went up to hold her mouth shut.

A set of guards came up, flashing a light into the tunnel.

“Did you hear that?”

“You’re stir-crazy, probably some Sandshrew or Geodude getting curious.”

Denny and Rose stayed still, daring not to breathe as the light shined nearby, nearly grazing their clothes and revealing their position. The seconds were tense as the flashlight shone in before moving away. They waited and the guards passed, shining the light elsewhere and going about their rounds. Denny and Niji let out a sigh of relief as Rose grunted about her foot and the rock that fell on it.

“Ow,” she muttered.

“That was close,” he replied.

The three waited a bit longer before slinking deeper into the camp. The dirt path crossed other paths at constant junctions, evenly spaced between supply boxes and unused machinery. Niji kept looking over her shoulder, nervous and fearful, hanging onto Denny’s shirt as much as she could, holding her body next to his. Avoiding any patrols they may come across, the group managed to get close to one of the large tents. They slinked in, as low as their bodies could get, watching for an opportunity to sneak by and find out some answers. As someone came out of the large tent, they shrank back behind their cover.

“Men!” someone shouted loud enough that Denny, Niji, and Rose could hear. His voice was clear, concise, and in control of the situation. They peeked over the edge of some storage boxes and watched. The people were within several yards of the two intruders. “Status report.” The man stood tall, without the black burette that the other workers had, exposing bright green hair, that reflected back the light from above.

“Sir,” someone, a female, responded. She was dressed in a black skirt with the black top of the other personnel. Long stockings went up her legs and melded with the black boots. “Our excavators uncovered concealed Golems that damaged Earth Removal Unit 3 and attacked our men. They responded by battling and then capturing the Pokémon, and are now under our control. Unit 3 is damaged and it will take several hours to assess the damage before work can continue.”

“Continue with the operation. Once excavated, send the fossils back to our base in Celadon for study before shipping them off to Cinnabar’s research facility. Make sure our guests come along as well.”

“Sir, something else of interest.”

“Go on.”

“We found a Magikarp floating along with our supplies from the aqueduct line.”

“So?”

“It had a trainer mark on its fin.”

“Someone didn’t want it. Cage it up and re-capture it after the supplies are unloaded. Dismissed.”

“Yes sir,”

Denny and Rose slinked down.

“They have Loch.”

“But where are they going to take him? And why are they digging up fossils here?” Rose replied.

“Dunno,” Denny said, looking around for another patrol. “But let’s find out.”

Denny, Niji, and Rose continued to sneak their way through the camp, ducking behind what they could as soon as a group of the black clothed people started to walk by. There were several tents throughout the camp, and the two trainers tried to find a way to look inside without being caught. Rose got on the ground and lifted one of the tarps, glancing into the tent.

A layer of dust covered the floor and the hum of an air compressor met her ears. Dirt and rocks littered the ground as larger chunks rested on tables. Several lamps hung from the top of the tents, illuminating the interior. This tent was being used for something, there were hammers, chisels, brushes scattered along the ground. Rose popped her head out, shook the dirt out of her hair, and brushed it off.

“It’s a work area,” she replied quietly. “They’ve got rocks on the tables and chisels on the floor.”

Continuing to sneak around, they prepared to peek into the next tent, when Niji noticed a patrol making their way towards them. Afraid, she pushed Denny out of the way, to save him and herself, ending up pushing Rose into the tent, causing them all to go crashing in. The tent flaps closed behind them as the patrol got close enough to see them.

Rose groaned, after having Denny land on top of her, she looked at the floor and then saw several pairs of feet step up to them, shifting around in the dirt.

“Oh no,” she muttered. Denny looked up as well, with Niji holding onto his hat.

Standing above them were several humans, dressed in old clothes that were dirt covered, mud caked, and worn. The edges of the sleeves were ragged and torn with holes in the fabric. Dirt and dust was layered on their faces, their eyes sunken into their skulls from long nights and little sleep.

“We’re in trouble,” Denny added.

“Who are you kids?” said an older man, with a slightly hunched back and shoulders. “And how’d you get here?” His glasses were scratched and covered in a thin layer of dust. The clothes on his body hung off his frame, tucked into his ragged pants. The man’s age showed with the grey hair, slightly balding on the top and wrinkled skin along his face and hands.

Denny and Rose looked at each other in confusions before responding.

“You mean you’re not going to sound an alarm?” Denny said.

“Only if we were in charge here,” the older man replied.

“You’re not with the excavation?”

“We are, but not by choice,” he stepped back and took a seat. “We’re here because they forced us.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Rose queried.

“We were kidnapped, drug down here and forced to work on preparing the fossils they pulled out of the ground.”

Denny stood up and helped Rose up as well. Niji was looking around, confused and afraid, but not as skittish as she was earlier.

“You were kidnapped? By the guys in black? Why?”

“We are from the Pewter City Museum, paleontologists and fossil perpetrators. They need us to clean and prepare the fossils before they ship them off to who knows were.” Someone else replied.

“So who are they then?” Rose asked.

“Team Rocket,” the older man replied. “They steal Pokémon and then sell them off to the highest bidder. The fossils they are collection are going to be used in the latest set of cloning technologies to bring the extinct Pokémon back to life.”

“And when they’re done with us, they’ll just finish us off and collapse the cave to cover up their involvement.” Someone else said, kicking a chair.

There was silence in the tent. Team Rocket? It really existed. They had seen Team Rocket fight a group of strong wild Pokémon and defeating them in seconds. There were probably hundreds of Team Rocket members in the cavern, each with strong Pokémon and expert battlers. They had machines, personnel, support, and money. As Denny and Rose stood there, the realization sank in.

They were not going to leave Mount Moon alive.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Surrounded, out-manned, and out-gunned, Denny, Niji, and Rose find themselves at the losing end of a battle. With death a stone’s throw away, they must rally the captives, and free themselves. Or else they become the next set of fossils in the darkness.

Next: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

[Mew Master]

Chapter 4: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Deep below the volcanic cap of the Silver Mountain Rage, within the limestone layers that was the basement rock of Mount Moon, two trainers stumbled upon an operation by an evil syndicate. Denny, Niji, and Rose stood within a tent of an enslavement camp, captured scientists looking at them with sunken eyes and dirt layered on their skin. Many of them were middle aged, with one very old scientist sitting down to rest his knees.

“Th-They’ll kill you?” Denny said, shock through his system.

The older paleontologist looked at him, annoyance in his eyes. “Of course they’ll kill us. Once we’ve outlived our usefulness, and striped this site of all the fossils they can find, they’ll collapse the cavern with us in it while they ship them off to their laboratories. You don’t think that they’ll just take us out to tea and have a nice chat afterwards?”

The elder’s snap made Denny take a step back.

“Don’t you have any Pokémon? Anything you can use to get out of here?” Rose asked.

A younger scientist spoke up. “They took them! You don’t think we could get away if we tried?!”

Denny, Niji, and Rose looked at him. He had short hair, wearing a small pair of glasses. His shirt wasn’t as ragged, and he didn’t have the thick layers of dirt and dust on his face like everyone else. Denny stared at him for a second, before remembering something. He had seen this guy on the missing person’s billboard back at the Pokémon Center, just outside Mount Moon.

“Hey!” Denny exclaimed. “I know you. You went missing in the mountain.”

“Well,” the guy replied. “Yeah. I’m here aren’t I?”

“You’ll have to excuse Jake,” the elder one said. “He had just left after getting his License and was going to start research under me when Team Rocket attacked the Museum. He came looking and then ended up with us. They took his Pokémon and tossed him here.”

They took his Pokémon? Denny thought, looking over at Niji. Just like Lock…

“Where’d they take them?” he asked.

The scientists looked up at him, dumbfounded.

“You want to… know where our Pokémon were taken?”

“Yeah. Where are they?”

“Don’t you think we haven’t tried to get them back?” Jake replied. “They have the boxes guarded that hold their Pokéballs. After we’re done here… they’ll…. They’ll…”

“Recapture them and then claim them as their own,” another finished. “And make them forget anything but their new masters.”

“Dr. Zakrzewski,” said a voice from outside the tent. “If I may have a moment with you and your colleagues?”

The flap to the front of the tent was thrown open and the leader of the excavation group entered. The hat that was part of the Rocket uniform did not cover his bright green hair. A bright red “R” was across his left arm, the front half of his uniform was unlatched, letting one-half of his outfit folded over like a renaissance general. Narrow eyes looked over the tent, at the matted cots, few personal possessions that littered the ground, and the dirt that caked onto everything. Compared to the scientists, he was clean, not a speck of dirt on him.

Keeping his gloves on, the man walked into the tent, two guards flanking him. “I’m glad to see you are all so lively.” He spoke with the voice of someone in charge, who had power, and knew how to exploit it. “I hope your accommodations are still favorable?”

Zakrzewski stood up from his chair, looking at the leader on even footing. “The food is horrible, there’s no sunlight, and your flunkies barely let us get any sleep. It’s a wonder we’re all still alive, Mr. Marko.”

Eugene Marko let out a hearty laugh before his eyes narrowed and he got close to Zakrzewski’s face. “Understand me, Doctor,” his voice had changed to a threatening tone, all amusement gone from his features. “You are still alive because we still have a need for you. And that need is slowly diminishing. With every sarcastic remark, with every snip out of your mouth, you edge closer to being disposable.”

“I’ve had a long life,” Zkarzewski replied. “Death threats don’t scare me.”

“Maybe not against you, but your fellow guests are also included in how useful you make yourself.” The statement got Zakrzewski’s face to show surprise and concern. Marko stepped away, pleased with the reaction he got from the aging paleontologist. “Our sites have started to run dry, and the earth movers cannot clear any more rock unless we want to bring the river right up to the camp. We’re going to pack up and prepare to leave tomorrow morning.” He walked around as he spoke, before walking up to the tent flap. “Enjoy your rest Doctor…” With a flap of the tent tarp, he stepped out, the two guards following him.

The scientists waited a moment before exhaling a sign of relief.

“You two can come out now.” Zakrzewski said.

A box near the side of the tent shook a bit before the side fell off, letting Denny. Rose, and Niji tumble out of the inside. They were a jumble of bodies and limbs, with Denny on his stomach on the bottom, with Rose laying on her back on top of him. Niji sat on Rose, shaking her head to clear the disorientation of the crash.

“Ow,” Denny said.

“Not again,” muttered Rose.

“That was close,” one middle-aged scientist commented.

Seconds before Marko had barged into the tent, the scientists had pushed Denny, Rose, and Niji right into one of their unused foot lockers and closed the lid. The three could hear the entire conversation between Marko and Zakrzewski and were lucky the foot locker was sturdy enough not to break until after Marko left.

“But what good is it going to do,” Jake said, frantic. “They’re going to kill us all anyway.”

“No way,” Denny replied. “You can’t just give up now!”

The scientists and Rose looked at him, surprised at his outburst.

“There’s no point in going on if there isn’t a chance. But there is a chance. If we can get to your Pokémon, then maybe we can use them to escape. You can’t give up on life until you’ve had a chance to live it,” he recalled what he had told Niji as she laid on death’s door a few weeks back. “So you can’t give up yet either. Where are your Pokémon being kept?”

“Some boxes being prepared for transport right now I bet,”

“Where?”

Zakrzewski spoke up. “Back of the camp. Follow the path behind this tent to the left, take the first right and keep going until you find one of their digging vehicles It should be separately marked from the rest of the supply boxes and crates filled with fossils. There are supposed to be 21 Pokéballs in the crate, so it could be filled with other stuff. Ignore the rest.” He walked up to Denny and put his hand on his shoulder. “If you really want to help us get out of here, then that is our best option. Be cautious, Rocket is known for using Poison Type Pokémon, and they’ve mercilessly caught anything they’ve come across in this cave system.”

“Right,” he stepped back and grabbed his Pokéballs from his belt before releasing them. The light and energy formed into his Spearow, Mankey, Ekans and Sandshrew, each with their own looks of determination. “Niji, stay here with Rose and the others. We’ll go get the Pokémon back here and then we can form an escape plan after that.”

With that, Denny and his Pokémon snuck out the tent the way he and Rose had stumbled in.

Following Zakrzewski’s directions, the small party glanced around everywhere, keeping an eye on anyone or anything that might come down any of the paths. Falco was perched on his shoulder, not risking flying in the cavern. A bird Pokémon below ground would look suspicious. His Ekans, Nausica, slithered around the boxes, using her slender body and perception to watch out for any Team Rocket patrol to come down the path ahead. The Sandshrew, who he had nicknamed Mani was also helping Nausic in looking for trouble before it came, able to dig and survive in areas with little water, Sandshrews were resilient to drastic climate changes and prefer the deserts to other areas. While sneaking around, Rafiki, his Mankey, was using his adeptness at climbing and natural dexterity to peek around corners and then double back before being seen.

Between Falco’s eyes, Nausica’s stealth, Fakiki’s dexterity, and Mani’s own perception, Denny and his Pokémon had found the lines of vehicles that looked like massive drills on wheels. Denny tried to look for the one that had any indication of being the main supply truck, but there wasn’t much distinction between them. Why do I keep jumping in without thinking? he thought to himself. I had gotten so riled by Jake and the other’s just giving up that I rushed off without any kind of plan. I don’t know what I’m looking for, or how the hell I’m going to be able to carry 20-some Pokéballs. I don’t even know what I’m doing!!

He felt a tug on his pants and looked down at Nausica, who was curling up around his feet. Having caught the attention of her trainer, she motioned towards one of the vehicles with her head. Denny followed the Ekans move her body and saw a truck that was separated from the rest. Two guards were standing by it, one on each side of the giant doors. What grabbed Denny’s attention about it was a giant water tank sitting next to the truck, with a Magikarp inside!

“Loch,” Denny muttered excitedly. “Good work Nausica.” He looked around carefully, as did Falco perched on his shoulder, before he took out his Pokédex and turned it on.

* * *

The Rocket grunts didn’t know what hit them.

Standing guard at a supply truck was the most boring, tedious, demeaning job there was at the excavation site. They couldn’t talk to each other, couldn’t be distracted, they just had to stand there, and be on the look out for anything suspicious. On the average, all they usually saw were a few Pokémon that wandered in and then ran off, and the other Team Rocket members as they moved used supplies and re-fitted the drills for spare parts.

It was the most agonizing job, and it bored them both to death.

The guard on the driver’s side of the truck scanned the boxes, all labeled with a large red “R” and secured with several clasps. It was painful to look at, and the guard turned away to stare at something else. As his head turned away, he heard a low hiss, and spun his head towards the sound, a hand on his belt for a Pokémon. As he turned, he stared right into the bright yellow, reptilian eyes of an Ekans. The snake Pokémon flicked her tongue right in the Rocket’s face before she hissed and struck. She quickly coiled around the Rocket, putting pressure on his lungs and increasing his difficulty to breathe.

The other guard heard his partner try to gasp for air and tried to let out a shout. A Sandshrew slamming into his stomach, curled into a tight ball, stopped his alarm. With the wind knocked out of him, he hit the ground kneeling, right before a Mankey hit him hard with a well-aimed chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

Nausica held her grip on the Rocket tight, wishing to herself to choke the life out of anyone who abused her kind. She showed some restraint, and let the Rocket out of her coils when he lost consciousness.

“Nice work,” Denny complimented as he put the Pokédex away. He tip-toed closer to the water tank, looking around for any patrol or dock workers.

“Loch,” he said to the Magikarp inside. “Loch it’s me. Don’t worry we’ll get you out of here.”

The Magikarp looked at Denny, a faint memory recalled in his mind. It was the trainer who had bought him, after being fished out of a river and then captured maliciously. Much of his kind had been captured by the scam artist, and sold to trainers. Loch didn’t know what happened to his brethren, it also wasn’t known if a Magikarp could remember back that far. But it remembered Denny, he didn’t want to get rid of him, he wanted to know more about him.

Loch swam over to where Denny was standing, and muttered a garbled acknowledgement. To the human, it seemed as if the Pokémon was relieved to see him. Climbing onto one of the truck tires, Denny reached for his Magikarp as it flailed near the surface. Managing to hold onto the slick scales, he pulled Loch out of the tank. The resulting splash caused him to lose his footing, and Denny and Loch both fell to the ground.

Despite being gritty, slightly muddy, and wet, the two were glad to be back together. Loch’s body dissipated into energy before reforming as his Pokéball. With a smile, Denny grabbed the sphere and placed it back onto his belt.

“One down,” he said standing up and making his way to the truck trailer handles. “Twenty-one to go.” The twin doors screeched open, making everyone cringe for fear of being spotted. When no Rocket’s seemed to have noticed, Denny and his Pokémon climbed inside.

The trailer was a little over half full. Boxes were strapped to pallets, pushed against each other to ensure that the cargo would be stable during transit. Denny and his Pokémon started opening box containers searching for the stolen Pokémon. They searched through the first three boxes before finding them. The Pokéballs were resting on several shelves inside the box. Circles were cut to ensure that the spheres didn’t roll out of their position.

Finding the Pokéballs, Denny opened up his backpack and started stuffing as many as he could in. Zakrzewski was right on the number of Pokéballs, but Denny didn’t have enough room in his pack for all of them, so he used his shirt to hold the rest, gripping the hem of the shirt in his fist. Just before he was ready to get out of the trailer and get back, he heard someone walk up to the doors of the trailer, a light reflecting off of the edges of the doors.

The patrol walked up to the opened trailer, muttering to themselves why the trailer doors were open with no one guarding it.

“Where the hell are the guards?” the superior officer muttered as he walked closer to the doors and shined a light inside. The boxes were open and items scattered around on the inside, a Mankey was messing with some of the items before it looked at the Rocket officer. “Damnit!” he shouted. His rear would be on the line if his own superiors found out a Pokémon had broken in and messed with their supplies, especially a Mankey with a circle on its forehead with the number three in the middle.

Wait. A Mankey with a trainer marker?

Rafiki wasted no time as he lunged at the patrol member who had been foolish enough to be first in line. His claws raked across the Rocket’s face, leaving multiple parallel scratch marks everywhere.

“Go!” Denny shouted, and Rafiki jumped and started running, grabbing onto overhangs for lengthy swings. Denny, and the rest of his Pokémon jumped out of their hiding places in the trailer and most landed onto the stunned and bleeding Rocket member before running back the way they had came originally.

The rest of the patrol was stunned and surprised as a Mankey had roughed up their leader, and then used as a springboard for three other Pokémon and their trainer. The officer groaned in pain as he looked up. As he did, he noticed two more Rocket members laying under the trailer, unconscious and not moving. Rage building up in his mind he shouted at his subordinates.

“Sound the alarm! After them!”

* * *

“Why is he even trying?!” Jake exclaimed. “There’s no use. Team Rocket will just throw him in here with us or kill him. What’s the point?!”

Jake had been on a rant for a bit now. His normally quiet demeanor was shattered, as the stress of the situation had finally been able to sink in. Jake’s Pokémon had been taken from him and he was thrown into the cavern with other scientists, with death only a few hours away. The young scientist had given up any hope.

“He’s just a hot-headed trainer who doesn’t know what he’s doing!”

“Oh shut up!” Rose snapped back.

“I may not know Denny that well, I only met him about a week ago. But I can tell you that he’s stubborn and he’s not going to let you all die here. He’s putting you above his own safety, can’t you see that?” Rose’s face turned from a scowl to worry. “Even if he fails at least he’s doing something about it.” She was holding Niji in her arms and the Mew could sense the worry in the female’s surface thoughts. The Mew hugged her back, trying to reassure her, but unsure as to how effective it was.

“Jake,” Zakrzewski said quietly, grabbing the younger’s attention. “What Denny said is true, if you have a chance at life, don’t throw it away. I’ve lived for over 60 years doing what I love, and the only way they’ll stop me is if I am dead. The Rocket’s don’t know that Mr. Denny and Miss Rose are currently in the camp right now, and that’s working in our favor. If he does manage to succeed and retrieve our Pokémon, then we’ll have to take the risk to escape here with our lives, rather than lie down and die like obedient dogs.”

Looking at the doctor, then turning away to stare at the tent tarp, Jake was quiet for a minute.

The silence was broken by the shouts of Rocket officers and a warning siren beginning to blare through the camp. There was the sound of crashing tables, boxes and commands shouted to various Pokémon ,as chaos and anarchy enveloped the camp.

“Fury Attack!” came Denny’s voice as a collection of shadows came up to the scientist’s tent. Something slashed through the tarp with long slashes of their forelimbs before Denny and his Pokémon came running through, followed by over a dozen Team Rocket soldiers and their Pokémon.

“Must go faster! Must go faster!” Denny told himself as he ran through the tent with Team Rocket right on his tail. The Rockets ran right through the tent, not paying the scientists or Rose any attention as they chased after the male trainer who had stepped on their squadron’s leader.

After he had stepped on the leader while escaping from the trailer with the paleontologist’s Pokéballs in his pack and shirt, he had lead a large scale chase through the camp. He’d take short-cuts through random tents as he would flip tables, boxes, and chairs to slow down his pursuers, while the Rocket’s would just rip the tent to shreds trying to get to him. Eventually he lost his bearings just running on fear and the desire to not get caught by Team Rocket. In their annoyance they sent out their Pokémon to try and stop him as well. Denny was ducking and weaving through tent after tent, trying to find the route back to the scientists so that he could drop off his load and get a little bit faster. Of course this was one of his famous act first, think second plans that it took him several tries to find the path back to the tent he had started from.

When he found it, he threw the pack and Pokéballs to the others while still running, he and his Pokémon bringing chaos to the Rocket camp.

As the Rocket’s left the tent, no doubt creating more chaos and confusion in their actions, Zakrzewski reached down and picked up one of the Pokéballs that landed on the ground.

“It’s not a perfect plan, but beggars can’t be choosers,” he said, childish pranks sparking behind his eyes.

* * *

Denny continued to run, this time breaking out of the camp and heading across the excavation site. His Pokémon were keeping up with him, Falco carrying Nausica in his talons, while Manis rolled like a pin-ball and Rafiki jumped and swung from what the Mankey could find.

The workers were surprised as they saw someone running through their dig sight, stepping on and destroying fossils they had spent hours uncovering and preparing to transport. He even knocked over a pale of plaster that slashed over onto two Rocket workmen as he ran past. If seeing Denny surprised them, then watching as more than half of the camp came running after him, ordering attack after attack to be directed towards him.

Zigging and zagging along, he managed to avoid much of the attacks, but he was running out of places to run to as well as the energy to keep it up for much longer. Much of his stamina had come from fear and the need to get the Pokémon back to their owners, after that it was pure fear for becoming the next list of missing trainers in Mount Moon. He hadn’t thought this far ahead, and currently running was his only option.

His feet skidded to a stop as he left the main excavation site and got to the edge of the water bank. The loose dirt had been piled high next to the river that ran underground throughout all of Mount Moon, pooling at this cavern, and then exited out through more natural aquifers.

Gasping for breath, he and his Pokémon were officially stuck. Nearly the entire excavation crew had joined the camp in chasing after him, corralling him at the water’s edge. Denny’s throat was dry and his Pokémon were nearly exhausted more from running than any battle he had used them in. Falco released Nausica on the ground before he sit down as well, panting heavily to cool down his body.

The Rocket’s Pokémon and trainers stood there, ready to launch a final set of attacks, but they didn’t. They had cornered Denny at the water’s edge, and a clapping echoed through the cavern. Rows of Team Rocket members stepped to the side, letting a man pass through unopposed.

“Well done,” the man said, and Denny recognized the man as Marko, the one in charge of this excavation operation. “I must say that you succeeded in turning my camp upside down, destroying priceless Pokémon fossils, intruding on a business operation, and holding up work on this site for another few days.”

Denny gasped and swallowed what he could. His throat was dry and words weren’t going to come easy against Marko. “So? Stealing what’s not yours and killing people any better?”

“My my,” Marko replied. “Running across the camp, through the dig site, and then up here and still full of rambunctious energy.” He reached for a Pokéball hanging from a strip that went along his right arm. Grabbing it he threw it into the air. Energy materialized as the sphere disintegrated. It didn’t form into some large Pokémon, but into a larger sphere before the energy faced. The Pokémon was a sphere, split into two colors: white on top and red on bottom. Its eyes were large and on the upper white-half, and its mouth was on the red half. The trainer mark was right on the split between the colors, and the number was 126.

A battle was going to get underway, and Denny couldn’t win. Being able to win and live was at the top of his to do list, but at this rate he might not even make it through the next few minutes.

“Thunderbolt.” The Electrode started spinning, electricity sparking as it charged. With a charged gathered, the spheroid Pokémon let the charge loose, electric energy zapping everyone, including Denny.

The electricity was powerful, causing an immense amount of pain through Denny’s body. His Pokémon were affected too, although their bodies could take the damage, his couldn’t. Falling to the ground, his clothes were smoking from the raw energy and the scent of burnt ozone and hair filled the air. His Pokémon pushed themselves up, still willing to fight after the attack, calling at him.

He heard their voices. Through the pain and numbness randomly flowing through his limbs Denny pushed himself onto his hands and knees. The electric current from the Electrode was causing some of his bioelectrical systems to misfire. His vision was blurring even with his glasses on. Tendons and ligaments in his arms burned from the pain and twitched when he didn’t want them to. The effect of an electric passed paralysis was the inability to move because the body refuses to obey the commands of the brain. He forced himself to move one hand to his belt, missing a few times before grabbing the one belt that was attached there. With the ball in hand, he tossed it, back towards the water.

The energy released formed into Loch, who floated in the water, staring up at Denny confused.

“I got you back Loch,” Denny pushed himself to say as he forced his body to listen and stand up. He glanced back at the Magikarp in the water. “But I don’t think I can get out with you. Follow the river, be free, save yourself… huh?” Denny turned to see the Electrode within a few feet of himself. It was right in the middle between him and his Pokémon. The ball Pokémon was renowned for its seed, despite any way to utilize it aside from rolling or using electrical currents to hover.

“Explosion.”

The Electrode muttered something before it’s body started to cackle with electricity. The charged energy caused the body to glow brightly, blinding Denny and his Pokémon who could do nothing but watch in shock.

“Not good…” Denny muttered as the light enveloped him.

An explosion rocked the cavern, leaving a massive crater was where Electrode had been, and now where a smoldering Pokéball now sat. The shockwave from the Pokémon injuring him even more than the Thunderbolt it had unleashed earlier. His body floated down into the water, while his Pokémon were so injured they couldn’t return to their Pokéballs. Denny was gone.

Marko laughed in triumph. The infidel was going to drown or die from his injuries, he didn’t care, and now his Pokémon were so injured that they couldn’t move or defend themselves. His Electrode’s Pokéball bounced back to his hand as he reached for another and unleashing another power-house Pokémon.

The burst of light reformed and collected into a massive Pokémon. The Pokémon was purple in color, heavily muscled. A large row of spines started from the back of the head, down the spine, and stopped at the base of a long muscular tale. The head had two large mouse-like ears with small spines along the edges, and a large nasal horn from between the eyes.

“Nidoking,” Marko commanded. “Finish them off. Horn Drill.”

The Nidoking roared and then started running towards Denny’s remaining Pokémon, the air moving around the Pokémon creating enough friction to cause the particles to spin around his horn. A spinning sheath of air around the main horn.

“Rock Throw!”

“Flamethrower!”

From the Nidoking’s left flank a collection of boulders enveloped in flame came flying through the air. The burning rocks landed between the poison Pokémon and his prey. Skidding to a stop, the Nidoking slowed down at the obstruction, the energy around his horn dissipating.

Running up from the same flank that the boulders had come from, Rose and Loki were leading the freed scientists, Pokéballs in their hands and ready to get back at Team Rocket for their imprisonment.

“How quaint,” Marko stated as he watched them run up. “To feel the breath of freedom just before the life is strangled from you. Move it!”

The Nidoking grabbed a hold of a flaming boulder. Using the muscles in his arms and chest, he started to heave it up, using his hips as a fulcrum. Something was wrong though, the boulder was much heavier than its size showed. Then the boulders moved.

Rearing up, the boulders weren’t individuals thrown, it was an individual that they belonged to. A large Onix reared up, a massive spine on its head, and two smaller ones on the next two segments of its body. Flames still stuck to its body, although it felt no pain from the fire.

“Slam!”

The Onix roared as its tail lifted up and crashed into the Nidoking, sending the poison Pokémon sprawling towards its master.

“We are not some beat down dogs,” Dr. Zakrzewski stated, anger in his voice.

The scientists lined up along with the Onix, holding their Pokéballs ready. As one they released them into battle, each one having several Rock or Ground type Pokémon. There was a difference though, Jake didn’t have a Pokémon like the rest, he had a small one, about as big as Loki. It was green, with a ring of small spikes around its neck. From its head was a leaf, and it stood on all fours.

“We won’t give up,” Jake said, his confidence refined. “Will we Chikorita?” The grass Pokémon acknowledged her trainer.

Rose looked at the Pokémon she had never seen before, holding her Pokédex out and ready for the fighting to begin. She didn’t see Denny anywhere, and wondered if he was alright. His Pokémon were there, lying on the ground, injured badly and hardly moving.

Niji flew off and behind the line of scientists and Pokémon to go see Denny’s. They were badly injured, and she could feel their pain. So much pain was there that the Mew had to land and hold her head to be able to concentrate through the mental signals. She tried to find Denny’s but couldn’t. Manis, who was able to survive the Electrode’s attacks better than the others, muttered something,

Niji’s eyes grew wide with the news, and she floated off towards the water. She circled above it, mewing for Denny, and unable to go down after him. Niji’s search became frantic, and her calls were drowned out by the sounds of the scientists battling Team Rocket.

* * *

Deep under the surface, the water was still. A single form floated down through the water column, unable to control his descent. Denny’s body just floated down, he was unconscious. The force of Electrode’s Explosion had knocked the wind out of him and sent him careening into the water behind where he had been standing. Blood flowed from open wounds across his body, a gash across his forehead and some on his arms and legs. Some of his clothes were torn and shredded and burnt from the force of the explosion.

Loch swam around his trainer, confused. His trainer wasn’t moving, just sinking, air escaping from his lungs with every second. He tried to get under Denny and push him back up, but the Magikarp lacked the strength to do that. The Pokémon was frustrated. Magikarp were physically weak, and he couldn’t do anything for his trainer as he sank further and further from life. He tried harder, he tried as hard as he could, but all he managed to do was flip Denny head downwards into the darkness.

The Magikarp had to do something. This trainer he had been sold to, treated him better than the one who originally caught him, and had come after him when he was knocked and washed downstream. And now, Loch could do nothing but watch, as his trainer… his friend was slipping closer and closer to death.

His eyes narrowed and he tried to summon forth the strength to save Denny from his fate.

* * *

“Fire Spin!”

Loki inhaled and sent out a cylinder of flames that surrounded one of the plant Pokémon the Rockets were using. One thing was for sure, Loki’s training was paying off. The Charmander was able to hold his own against the constant onslaught of Pokémon Team Rocket continued to send at them. Rose wasn’t able to switch out Loki, she had to keep her attention on the battle at hand, so she couldn’t look up any kind of advantage with her other Pokémon. This was a war, not a battle.

With his latest opponent defeated, Loki took what little breath he could. This break in the defensive line gave a Rocket an opening as he sent out his own Pokémon. The energy condensed into a stout form, low to the ground and thick. Overlapping layers of rock-colored skin gave the Pokémon a tank-like appearance. Its head was flat with a short nasal horn.

As soon as it formed from the energy, it started to charge. Right for Loki!

Once a Rhyhorn starts charging, it won’t stop until either it forgets why or falls asleep. A combination of momentum and roller-sockets allows the Rhyhorn to move its massive body without exerting too much energy to maintain it’s running. That, also mixing with the Pokémon’s strength, make it formidable when trained.

“Razor Leaf!” Jake shouted.

His Chikorita started to whip the leaf on her head around, sending copies of it, replicating the cells and sending the copies flying at rapid speeds. Due to the rapid replication of the leaves, they had a thin edge as the Pokémon flung dozens of them at the Rhyhorn. Upon contact, the leaves disintegrated, but they were able to slice into the armor, leaving notches and abrasions. The soft tissue also added extra lubrication to the rock Pokémon’s joints, causing its limbs to over extend, making it crash hard into the ground.

“Nice save,” Rose commented as she used the little breather to search her belt.

“Fire Blast!” one of the Rockets said. A gelotenous blob of toxic sludge opened its mouth before unleashing a massive fire attack. The flames split into five separate lateral pieces as it spun towards Jake’s Pokémon. Such an attack was large enough that it would engulf several Pokémon in the area.

“Loki!”

The Charmander, although tired, dashed forward, taking the full brunt of the hit with his own body. Flames spurted in every direction as Loki held the attack back with his own body. Loki was forced back by the strength of the attack, his claws digging into the dirt and rocks. The Muk’s forced out more into the attack, feeding it. The lateral extending flames separated the two battling factions as they scorched and melted the earth. With such a strong force behind the attack, the five lateral flames wrapped around Loki, engulfing him in a large sphere of flame.

“No!” Rose shouted, her Charmander in the center of an inferno that nothing could survive. “Loki!” She watched as the inferno started to dissipate, keeping it’s sphere shape around her Pokémon. Nothing could be done, as she watched the flames, so hot that they started to melt the surrounding dirt and stone.

The first casualty. Rose’s first Pokémon. Tears started to go down her cheeks as she watched, the heat from the fire reaching her. Denny was missing, Niji was in a fuss, Pokémon were dropping left and right.

“LOKI!” she shouted, the pain in her voice echoing through the cavern, over the sound of the fighting sides.

The sphere of flame convulsed, grabbing her attention.

It pulsed, and shook, transitioning from the red-orange flame to a bright blue blaze. More energy was being put into the inferno than it could sustain, becoming unstable with every second. Finally, in a burst of super-heated flame the sphere exploded outwards, remnants of the fire sticking to the ground at the base. In the center of where the flames still lingered was a red colored form. It was taller than a Charmander, a deep crimson red. A small horn protruded from the back of its head. It had longer arms, each ending in long sharp claws. As it turned back towards Rose, the flames lapping in the sky, she saw its eyes.

The same color as Loki’s.

“Loki!” she shouted, tears of joy flowing from her eyes. The Charmeleon raised its clawed hand and showed off the sharp edges, smiling.

Through the stress of the battle and the flames engulfing him, Loki had evolved from a Charmander to a Charmeleon. Rose didn’t care about any of that, all she cared about, was that Loki was still alive.

“Reunions will have to wait,” one of the rescued scientists commented towards Rose. “They aren’t going to let up because of that.”

Niji came flying in, grabbing onto Rose’s hair and nearly knocking her over. The Mew was crying and sobbing. She was crying incoherently, her muttering mixing in with the sounds of the fight.

“Niji!” Rose stammered, trying to keep her balance. “What’s wrong? Where’s Denny?” The Mew continued to cry, hanging onto tiny fist-fulls of Rose’s hair.

“Miss Rose!” Zakrzewski shouted. “Tend to his Pokémon, we can hold them here. Mr. Spade! Go with her!”

“Right!” Jake replied, helping Rose to the back area. Loki followed, fending off a few of the Rocket’s Pokémon that decided to follow after them.

Rose reached where Denny’s Pokémon had been. The four there were heavily injured, too injured to turn into their Pokéballs. Jake and his Chikorita had to gather them up because Rose was trying to comfort the crying Niji. Denny’s Pokémon were horribly roughed up, the combination of the Electrode’s Thunderbolt and its Explosion made it look like a motor-round had hit the area. Patches of Falco’s feathers were missing, so were clumps of Rafiki’s fur on his body. Nausica’s scales were ripped up, and Manis was in so much pain he had curled up into a tight defensive ball to protect himself.

Rose pulled out an attachment from her Pokédex. It was designed to measure the health-levels of any Pokémon that she held it close to. She scanned every one of Denny’s Pokémon, and each one was so weak they couldn’t return without Denny’s command. Trying to see how to return the Pokémon to their Pokéballs without their trainer giving the commands, she turned as a loud roar echoed through the cavern.

Zakrzewski’s giant Onix roared into the air before twisting its body, and then falling to the ground. The body turned into energy and was reformed as its Pokéball. As Rose looked, she could see that Team Rocket had defeated the scientists Pokémon, although outnumbered, they had still put up a decent fight. However, now only Rose’s Charmeleon and Jake’s Chikorita stood in the way of the large and fully evolved forms of Team Rocket’s Pokémon.

Marko clapped, his Nidoking glaring at the scientists. “I would not expect anything less from you and your colleagues,” he said. “However I have lost my patience with you all. Kill them, Horn Drill!”

Marko’s Nidoking started to charge once again, air collected around his horn creating a whirlwind of friction. Between one battle worn Charmeleon and exhausted Chikorita, there wasn’t much that the defending side could do.

The fight had raged on, and no one had paid much attention to the body of water behind them. Its flowing water started to spin, creating a whirlpool in the center of the deepest part. Such a switch in the sound of the water changing directions grabbed some of the scientists’ attention. If being shredded to bits by a Nidoking was horrible, drowning wasn’t a better option. The cycloning water started to convulse as something from below sent it straight up into a twister of water.

This grabbed everyone’s attention as the water twister sprouted high to the cavern ceiling, wearing a trench in the cave roof. Bulging, the cyclone exploded outward, sending water everywhere, soaking Rose, Jake, the scientists, and the first few lines of Team Rocket. The thing in the center of the cyclone was large, long, and serpentine. Overlapping blue scales glistened with the water that still clung to its body. Ventral scales were a cream color and gave a contrast to the bright blue. Four sets of individual dorsal spines placed along the back. The head was a terrifying visage of rage and anger, a long face with a large mouth. Fangs on the upper and lower parts of the mouth. A set of whiskers extending from behind the Pokémon’s lips, and a ridge above the eyes that extended backwards into three separate horns. The Pokémon’s red eyes blazed as he roared, the voice echoing through the cavern.

“A Gyarados?!” Marko shouted. “How’s that get here?!”

On top of the Gyarados’ head, was a human form. His clothes were shredded and blood was slowly seeping down from his wounds. Rose recognized the body and her jaw dropped.

“Denny!” she shouted, Niji looking up at the Gyarados who had just erupted from the water.

Denny was semi-conscious. He felt something building through his lungs and stomach and lurched, coughing up a combination of water, blood, and food he last ate. His world was spinning, and he thought he was floating above a mob of people. The shock from Electrode’s Explosion and nearly drowning made his muscles sore and his mind clouded. He felt himself being guided from side to side, as if his body wasn’t under his control.

The motion he was under would have unnerved anyone with a stable sense of mind, but Denny was still out of it. His sense of orientation and clarity of thought was completely off balance. Without his glasses, his eyes tried to focus on what was going on around him. The mob was pretty big, and there were some others that didn’t look human. Flashes of orange and red made him think there was fire along the ground.

He heard his name, and he recognized the voice. It was Rose. She and Niji were calling at him. Was he dead? No. He couldn’t be. His body was sore all over, and his vision fogged, but he didn’t feel dead.

Trying to bring his world into focus, he first noticed that he wasn’t floating, but was laying on top of something that was moving for him. He looked down, and the blur of blue scales and a set of horns snapped him back to reality. Then he realized it. He was riding on top of a Pokémon’s head.

A roar echoed through the cavern as he tried to look down to see what kind of Pokémon he was riding on. It was a large serpent with eyes as big as his head. The eye rotated to look at him, the deep red iris showing a deeper rage, but it showed something else, something that was on the edge of his consciousness.

“Loch?”

The Gyarados growled in reply towards his trainer.

“Did you… Evolve to save me?”

A smile split the serpent Pokémon’s face before he reared back and unleashed a roar of challenge.

“No way,” Rose muttered as she looked up at the massive water serpent. “Loch evolves into Gyarados?!”

“Magikarp are difficult to train and most trainers ignore them,” a bearded scientist stated. “However, if someone shows the Magikarp enough respect and helps them through difficulties, they evolve into one of the most destructive Pokémon in the world.”

Niji sprung out of Rose’s arms and flew straight up to Denny, shouting out. Tackling her friend, she nearly sent them both falling off and into the water, tears of joy running down the Mew’s cheeks.

“I missed you too Niji,” Denny said as his Pokémon rubbed against his cheek. “Okay Loch,” he said, digging out his Pokédex from its pocket and activating it, pulling up an attack list for his new Gyarados. “Knock ‘em back with Hyper Beam!”

Roaring, bright energy collected in Loch’s mouth, becoming a sphere of energy larger than the Gyarados’ mouth. Twisting his neck, the Gyarados unleashed the attack as a wide-sweeping beam. The force of the attack caused Rocket members and Pokémon to be sent flying backwards. A long smoldering trench separated Team Rocket from Rose, Jake, and the scientists.

Loch surged out of the water, floating above the ground, undulating his body like a snake. Slithering up in front of the ex-captives, the Gyarados lowered his head to let Denny get off. His trainer was still woozy from the shock of the last few minutes and had to brace himself against the water serpent Pokémon.

“Denny!” Rose ran up with Loki and glomped the water-logged trainer. “You’re alive!”

“I have to admit that you had us worried for a bit there,” said one of the scientists.

“Glad everyone had my interests at heart…” he said through Rose and Niji strangling the air out of him. “Where’s my other Pokémon?”

“They’re really weak,” Jake replied. “So weak they can’t go back into their Pokéballs.” He held Falco in his hands and some of the scientists carried the other Pokémon.

“Falco, Rafiki, Manis, Nausica!” Denny gently pushed Rose off of him so he could see his Pokémon. “Where’s my pack?” Rose unslinged his backpack from her arm and handed it to him. Quickly he dug through his pockets and pulled out four yellow rhomboid capsules. Taking each, he crushed it and let the liquid pour over his Pokémon. The medicine soaked into the skin and through their bodies, repairing their injuries enough they were able to reform into their Pokéballs and they sprung up to his arms.

“Got you guys now,” he said as he attached the balls to his belt.

“You!” shouted Marko.

Everyone looked back to the Rocket line. Marko was standing as the smoke started to clear. His uniform was scorched, burnt, and the left half was gone. Rage was in his eyes as the rest of the front line had been thrown back.

“You will pay for what you’ve done to us!” He grabbed a Pokéball from his arm strap and pulled it, ripping the fabric off. The Pokéball exploded.

Energy twisted and contorted like multiple snakes hanging from the massive mushroom-shaped head. As the light cleared, a Pokémon resembling a jellyfish held itself up with long tentacles and a large hooked beak. Bright red orbs were on either side of the head with a smaller sphere between the two, above narrow eyes.

“Tentacruel, Poison Sting and Constrict. Kill them!” Using its tentacles to hold itself up, the jellyfish Pokémon started throwing itself towards them.

“Loch, Bite!”

“Loki, Mega Kick!”

“Chikorita, Vine Whip!”

As Tentacrule came barrowling towards the group, Chikorita started the counter attack. Extending two vines from her necklace of thorns, she sent the vines close along the ground, slapping into the water Pokémon’s crawling tentacles. With its balance stolen, Loki took his turn, in position and ready to take on Tentacruel. As the jellyfish Pokémon came in, the Charmeleon jumped up, his foot glowing with energy. Coming down fast, Loki slammed his foot into the back of Tentacruel’s soft head, the energy transferring and sending the other Pokémon flying. Baring his fangs, Loch twisted his neck and bit down into the Tentacruel’s tentacles. Twisting and convulsing from the poison laced through the tentacles, Loch threw the Tentacruel back towards the other side of the cavern, crashing through some tents and shattering boxes into splinters.

Loch, annoyed with this battle, roared through the cavern. The water behind him started to churn and bubble before spinning into four multiple cyclones. Combining, the liquid twisters joined into a massive cyclone that Loch sent forward, tearing up the cavern.

With such a destructive move tearing up the support of the cavern, the ground started to shake and parts of the ceiling were falling down.

“We can’t stay here,” Zakrzewski shouted. “The cavern’s too unstable.”

“Then how do we get out of here?” Jake yelled as his Chikorita returned to her Pokéball, and he avoided some falling rocks.

“The cave entrances are too far to run to, and the cave walls will collapse,” someone else stated.

“Everyone grab onto Loch!” Denny shouted as Niji held on to his shirt. “Take a deep breath!”

Rose recalled Loki as she followed the others. Grabbing onto the thick scales, the scientists, Denny, and Rose grabbed onto Loch’s scales. The Gyarados reared up and roared as the cavern started to collapse before slithering to the water and entering with a massive splash.

* * *

On the eastern side of Mount Moon, a spring trickled down. The water joined with a larger river that wound its way around Cerulean City and to the open ocean. At the source of the river were smaller springs like this one that fed water through Mount Moon’s sedimentary layers.

The flow of water was steady, but then began to get stronger and more forceful. Water pressure forcing rocks and soil bulging outwards. The deformity in the side of the mountain became larger, just before a Gyarados burst from the side of the hill, several humans clinging to his scaly hide.

Loch roared as he pushed through the last layers of rock and boulders to escape from the trap that had been Mount Moon. Time had been a factor in his speed, the humans lungs could only hold so much air, and bursting through the waterways at break-neck speed had almost cost him to lose a few of them. But now they were free from the underground of Mount Moon, and the sun shone brightly above.

Denny gasped for air, stumbling off Loch’s hide as his body was soaked to the bone. Rose was soaked as well, gasping for her own breath and trying not to hyperventilate. The scientists were short on air, but alive and fine. Niji choked for a minute before filling her lungs with air, snorting the water out her nose.

The little spring was now a forceful exit for the water that flowed through Mount Moon. Being forcefully pulled through the water had started the process of washing off the layers of dirt and dust that covered the scientist’s faces, and they squinted as the sun’s rays shined down upon them.

Thanks to the efforts of Denny and Rose, they were alive, free once again, and Team Rocket’s plan had been foiled.

[Mew Master]

* * *

“Status report.”

“Sir,” said a female attendant standing in front of a large glowing screen. The screen showed a close-up and details of the northern Kanto Region. “Casualties were restricted to low ranking members of the organization. Commander Eugene Marko had managed to escape with his subordinates and the last shipment of fossils from the Mount Moon site with minor injuries to themselves and their Pokémon.”

“Marko’s condition?”

“Stable. His Excavator was picked up at 1357 hours at location 374829 by 983027. He has suffered burns across 30% of his body. His Nidoking and Tentacruel are in critical condition.”

“His stubbornness was his best asset.” The man said. Cold, calculating. “Inform the Celadon Headquarters of my inspection of the operation within the next month.”

“Sir?”

“Yes,” annoyed he looked at his attendant. “What is it?”

“We received a transmission from Marko shortly after his vehicle breached the substrate. It was meant for you.”

“Show me.”

With electrical beeps, the screen opened a file that filled the view. A series of zooming squares darted around the image, each magnifying a selection of the next in a nauseating display. After the last set of magnifications was over, the pixilation was re-focused, layer by layer.

The man’s jaw dropped in shock as the image focused on a small Pokémon. Ignoring the larger more impressive Pokémon that were in the foreground of the image, he stood and approached the screen. Flying in the air, the Pokémon was curled over itself, its pelt a bright, nearly white, pink. A long tail ending in a rounded bulb at the end extended from between two legs. The Pokémon had large feet, and its head had large blue eyes with small cat-like ears turned backwards. It was looking away from the camera, but it was enough to get the man off his feet.

Slowly, he stepped towards the screen and placed his hand on the Pokémon’s image.

“There you are…” he said, grinning maliciously. “I’ve found you… Mew.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Life changing experiences can stir the heart of anyone. Running into old friends can strain the relationships with new ones. Following your heart, while protecting the hearts around you, can be just as stressful.

Next: Uncertain Future.

[Mew Master]

Chapter 5: Uncertain Future


“I can’t believe this is happening!!” Jake shouted to the sky, running his hands through his hair frantically.

After escaping from Team Rocket under Mount Moon, officials from both Pewter and Cerulean city came shortly after parts of the mountain started to collapse. No one inside the main tunnel was injured due to the quick actions of Pokémon Rangers stationed at the nearby Pokémon Center. Parts of the path blocked by cave-ins and water filling in the cave, making it unusable until either city could send someone out to examine the total damage. Authorities from Cerulean had found the escaped scientists, along with Denny and Rose, taking them to the City of Water to be treated for the injuries they and their Pokémon had suffered from the fight with Team Rocket.

While in Cerulean, Zakrzewski made the comment that as part of Jake’s training in the sciences under him, that the youth should travel around with Denny and Rose. Of course Jake refused, not seeing the point. Zakrzewski had just replied that he was injured and couldn’t be of much use. If Jake wanted to learn, there was more he could learn outside of the lab than inside it.

At the doctor’s urging, Jake was now with Denny and Rose.

With her Pokémon healed Rose went on to challenge Misty. From the sidelines, Denny and Jake got to see the other trainer battle. Cerulean’s Gym was a massive aquarium for various plain and exotic fish. While looking for the main Gym the group had walked through a massive network of glass overhead that showed large fish swimming above them, dwarfing even Loch’s massive body.

When they had actually found the main battle area, even Rose was taken aback by the size of the arena. The aquarium they had walked under earlier was apart of the actual Gym arena. Parts of the Gym were built to recreate habitat while also connect them together, giving the massive aquarium a transition similar to the open sea, fluvial environments, and even small scum pools where sluggish organisms thrived. The arena was home to several glaciers bigger than the ones in the Pewter City Gym. They floated and crumbled, letting smaller glaciers float freely in the carefully controlled water.

Between Rose and Misty it was a close match. The Gym Leader only chose to use two Pokémon, while Rose was allowed to use as many as she wanted, her entire team if she choose. Misty herself floated across the arena riding side-saddle on a Lapras while Rose had to perch herself on one of the floating glaciers.

The fight was a long one, with Rose managing to win at the last possible second before she would have needed to send Loki out to the dogs. With another badge under her belt, and Denny getting more drawing practice in, the group got supplies in Cerulean before following the river eastward, closer to the eastern coast of Kanto.

Denny and Rose sat with their Pokémon calmly in a small grassy area next to part of a river that was flowing towards the sea, Denny had his sketch pad in his lap and working on another image. Jake’s Chikorita was sitting with Zephyr, now a Pidgeotto, Nymph, and Loki, enjoying some of their own food. Chikorita chewed on some fresh leaves, adding color to her plumage, Zephyr pecked at some rice balls that held pieces of insects and fresh meat. Loki used his claws to pick up dumplings with hot peppers and sauce before setting them inside his mouth. Nymph fluttered around the area, sniffing the local flowers and using a small proboscis inside her mouth to ingest the nectar.

Denny’s Pokémon were enjoying their food as well. Nausica’s belly was full with half a dozen eggs they had bought back in Cerulean that morning, basking on a rock. Mani slowly worked his way on some tuber vegetables, nawing on them with every few bites, rolling the food around in his mouth before nawing again. Rafiki, like the Mankey’s namesake, was jumping around, three different fruits in his hands and one of his feet.

The river that they were camping next to started to get more rough as something large moved under the water. The object rose to the surface, the water tension causing a large bulge to form before it broke, sending a large wave out in all directions. Loch roared as he raised his head high above the water, the liquid running down his body in sheets. Niji laughed as she rode on top of the Gyarados’ head, waving towards Denny on shore.

There was another Pokémon sitting with Niji on Loch’s head. The body was spherical, the belly with a thin membrane that showed a spiral shape curving inwards towards the center of the body. It had a small mouth with big lips resting between two eyes that rested on the top of the head. Two large paddle like feet were in front of it as the Pokémon sat on Lock’s horns with Niji. A large flat, elliptical, tail was behind it, able to give it extra control while swimming.

“Susanoo,” Rose called to her Poliwag. “Hurry up or your food’s gonna get eaten!”

“Who’d eat the scum we drug up out of the river edge?” Denny responded.

“Shhh!” the female replied.

“Are you two listening?!” Jake shouted.

“Yup, yup,” Rose replied. “You can’t believe this is happening. You’ve been complaining about it for ten minutes now.”

“Fifteen,” Denny corrected.

“Then why don’t you two do something about it?!”

“If I understand it right,” Denny stated. “Zakrzewski wanted you to get some real world experience.”

“But I didn’t sign up for that! I’m supposed to be working in the Pewter Museum right now!”

Jacob Spade was an interesting young man. He wasn’t from Kanto like Denny and Rose, he was originally from Johto, Kanto’s neighboring region to the east, and his light tan complexion showed it. His hair was cut short, combed close to his head, with a small wisp in the middle of his forehead curved towards the right. Like Denny, he was wearing glasses, small oval frames resting high on the bridge of his nose. He was wearing simple jeans and a belt, with a bright green shirt tucked into his pants. In the center of the shirt was the icon for the Grass Element, a sphere with a single black leaf in the middle.

Jake was older than Denny by a few months, and had completed the Johto Exam months before the season started for either Johto or Kanto. After completing the exam, he had applied for extra options to the League. With his League License he could do anything Pokémon related, and went after his passion: science. Jake seemed to have an affinity for Pokémon biology, paleontology, evolution, anatomy, physiology, and ecology. All the areas Denny had flunked out on during his impromptu exam. Such high scores had made Jake eligible for several apprenticeships all over the continent. He had chosen the one with Dr. Richard Zakrzewski in the Pewter City Sternberg Museum of Natural History. However, when he had arrived with Chikorita, he found out that his advisor had been missing for weeks after going through Mount Moon to Cerulean. Jake decided to go after him, and was then caught by Team Rocket and forced to work, until Denny and Rose showed up in the cavern.

And now he was on a rant and venting over the hand fate had dealt him. For the last few days after Zakrzewski had told him what he had to do, Jake was still in denial, and now it was all sinking into the young scientist’s mind.

“Oh, calm down,” Denny said. “You’re acting like I was thinking when Rose decided to tag along with me.”

“And you should be glad I did,” Rose added. “You need me to explain stuff to you so that you don’t end up getting kicked out of the league and losing your license.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“My life is over…” Jake mumbled, crying to himself.

Niji came flying in, spinning, and landing on Denny’s head, purring loudly as Susanoo paddled up to the water’s edge, cheerful, before awkwardly waddling out of the river.

“You’re soaked! Have fun Niji?” The Mew nodded before shaking the water off her fur, getting everyone else around her drenched. Denny sat there, his now wet sketchpad in his lap. “Well, there’s one drawing pad gone.” He said bluntly, while Niji giggled.

“Okay,” Jake stated, taking his glasses off and drying them off. “That ended that.” He sighed. “I have no clue what Z’s planning with this .. group effort thing. But since I wasn’t told anything else, and going home to Blackthorn’s pointless.”

“Oh come on Jake,” Denny said, drying himself off. “You can’t mean that we’ve been that bad of company since you met us.”

“I met you both in an underground cavern and you nearly got me killed twice.”

“Only twice, and within 10 minutes of each other,” Rose commented. “Not that bad considering he nearly died five times in that hour.” She looked at Denny with narrowed eyes.

“Keep rubbin’ it in why dontcha?” the Pallet trainer replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Denny rested his now soaking wet sketchpad down on a rock near Nausica to dry in the sun while he took off his jacket and let it rest on a rock to dry as well. They were still waiting on the Pokémon to finish their meals to the group had time to spare. The trainer grabbed a towel and dried himself off. The water that Niji had shaken off only got through his jacket and Jake and Rose’s first layers of clothing, so there wasn’t much else to do but let it dry on its own. The artist took out a new sketchpad and started to draw once more, letting his hand sketch away.

His mind floated back to the last few days. He had started his journey alone, with Niji and whatever Pokémon he managed to catch. All the friends he had already had several days head start, and were probably much stronger than him. But then again he didn’t care for the Gym Battles, but he did have to keep training and catching Pokémon to keep his License within the League, and keep looking after Niji. He had already seen a few Gym matches, and nearly lost his life in Mount Moon against Team Rocket. Denny’s memory from the event was still clouded by instinct and his annoyance at the scientists unwilling to do anything, until he took a stand for them.

And now, as he looked at the group he was with, found himself wanting to protect them too. Rose was an interesting companion, and Jake had his own quirks but was mostly like Denny in some of his interests. They were oddballs, but Denny was starting to look at them more like friends.

Niji sat on the rock near Denny, looking at the human as she sensed his surface thoughts. The thoughts were strange. Joy. Protectiveness. Will. Caring. Niji was confused and a little shaken by the feelings she was getting from Denny. Wanting to shake her trainer out of the mental lock he was in, she grabbed his pencil and started to float away, chanting at him.

“Huh… Hey!” he shouted as the Mew tore him out of his own mind and back to the real world. Standing up he ran after his Pokémon before tackling her to the ground, careful not to hurt either of them in the fall.

Niji looked up at her trainer, afraid at the reaction she got from Denny. Normally he would be smiling. He looked at her, serious, holding her close before taking his pencil from the Mew’s small hands. She looked back up at him, afraid. Denny looked into those big blue eyes and his frustration melted as he realized what Niji had done. Gently and lovingly, he petted the Mew’s head, feeling the soft pelt under his skin.

“Thanks Niji,” he said smiling at her. “I needed that.”

The Mew smiled at her trainer, glad to have him back to normal.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jake asked, annoyed at Denny body-tackling Niji to the ground.

“Oh,” Rose replied for Denny. “Niji doesn’t like Denny to be in a grumpy mood.” Niji floated around Rose and she quickly snatched the Mew out of thin air and proceeded to pet and cuddle the small Pokémon like a newborn kitten. “Don’t you Niji?”

Everyone, except Jake smiled at the event, while the young scientist just threw his hands up into the air as he stormed away, muttering under his breath. Denny laughed as he pushed himself up, brushing dirt and grass off his shirt.

“Denny? Denny is that you?”

The group heard a young, stern voice call out from the bushes near their campsite. Denny recognized the voice before he saw the figure of Gary Oak, push his way through the bushes and into the small clearing.

“Gary,” he muttered.

“Well, well,” Gary stated. “It is you. What are you doing so far from home? Your mom dump you off out here or what?”

“No,” Denny replied. “My mom did not dump me off here.” Gary, as expected, was still as cocky as ever. Just because his grandfather was Professor Oak, it made the teenager a bit uppity in his mannerisms. However, Denny couldn’t deny that being the grandson of one of the greatest Pokémon researchers wasn’t wasted. He remembered that Gary had scored high on the entrance Exams for the League, and had a better idea of what he was doing than Denny did.

“So what’s going on?” he asked looking at the Pokémon and humans in the clearing. “Goin’ camping with a girlfriend or something?”

“Girlfriend?!” both Rose and Denny shouted at the same time.

“Look you,” Rose said steaming mad at the way Gary was acting so holier than thou towards Denny and putting down the other trainer. “I don’t know who you are but you can’t talk to him like that. He has a Pokémon License and is on the road to see the world, which means he can be wherever he wants to be!”

“An Indigo League License?!” Gary scoffed before he laughed. “That’s a good one.”

Niji was out of Rose’s arms, but hid partly behind Denny. She looked at Gary, unsure what to think of the human trainer. His outer thoughts were messy. Seriousness combined with some high regard for himself and not others. She could tell that Gary’s taunting was making Rose angry and Denny was just getting frustrated with the whole thing.

“Easy Rose,” Denny commented. “Gary’s always like that.”

“You mean you know him?”

“Since we were little,” Gary commented. “And Denny’s always been at the back of the pack. He never took the exams, which is why he can’t have a license.”

Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Gary saw Niji, staring right at him. The young man stopped, even ignoring Rose’s response.

He was silent, wide eyed at Niji hiding behind Denny. Faster than anyone could have expected, Gary reached for a Pokéball and threw it towards Denny and Niji. Erupting from the light was a Charmeleon, with piercing grey eyes, and the number “one” on its upper left arm. “There it is Charmeleon, get it!”

Gary’s Charmeleon lashed out, claws bared and sharp, right at Niji. Her claws hit home, slashing across flesh, skin, and clothes.

Clothes?

The Charmeleon was surprised. She swiped outward with her claws, Denny had turned and took the brunt of the attack, wrapping his arms around Niji. The impact forced him into the clearing, causing his, Rose, and Jake’s Pokémon to scramble away.

“What are you doing Denny?!” Gary shouted. “I almost had it!”

“Are you crazy?” Jake shouted back. “Your Charmeleon just sliced his back open!”

“He should of got outta the way!” Gary protested before turning back at the chaos before him. The Pokémon looked angry, and it was questionable why. They all looked like normal Pokémon from the area, except for the Charmeleon, and the quadruped green one.

“Ni-Niji,” Denny said through the pain in his back. “Are you alright?”

The Mew just looked up at him, she could almost feel the pain covering his mind. She started to mew at him frantically, panic in her voice as she tugged at him. Tears were swelling up in her eyes as she tried to demand why. Why did he jump in front of the attack like that?

“Ow,” he muttered, trying to push himself up, with Niji still in his arms. “That hurts,” he gritted his teeth through the pain.

“You jerk!” Rose was mad now. “What’s your problem?!”

“What?!” Gary shouted back. “Didn’t you see it?!” He pointed at Niji as the Mew still mewed at Denny.

“What are you talking about?” Rose said. “Of course we see Niji. What’s your point?”

“Niji?!” Gary exclaimed. “It has a name?!”

“Look, just explain yourself,” Jake demanded, him and Chikorita ready for a fight.

Gary looked at the group. Their general confusion and anger towards him was odd. Didn’t they know? “You mean you don’t know? You really don’t know?”

“Go on,” Jake urged. “Spill it.”

“That,” Gary pointed at Niji. “Is a Mew. It’s the rarest Pokémon on earth, and many claim it as a mirage.”

Jake and Rose glanced at each other before glaring back at Gary.

“Don’t believe me? Then check your Pokédex’s.”

Taking his out of his pocket, Jake started up the Dex and pointed it at Niji who was still worried about Denny. A ray came forward that hit the Mew, scanning her into the Pokédx for analysis and identification.


Pokémon Analysis Initiated
Scanning…
Scanning…
Scanning…
Scanning…
Scan Complete!
Pokémon Identified:
Pokémon: Mew
Kanto Identification: 151
Height of Specimen: 0.19 m
Weight of Specimen: 1.3 Kg
Training Record: 1-0-1
Owner: Denny Roth, 926374
Number Identification: 1

“It’s…. just Niji,” Jake commented. “And it proves that Denny’s a trainer.”

“Well then where’s his License?” Gary demanded.

“It’s in my coat,” Denny replied as he stood up, Niji still tugging at him. Rafiki, watching this all, hopped up and flipped onto the rock where his trainer’s coat was. The Mankey started to sift through the pockets, looking for the Pokédex. After getting caught up in the coat, the Pokémon found the dex and then came hopping up to Denny, holding it in his foot.

Denny picked it up and started it up, pulling up his trainer information to show Gary. Gary Oak had only been proven wrong a few times, each time he acted like it was trivial anyway. However right now, in front of him was the proof that Denny was a trainer, and that Niji, this Mew, was his.

“How’d you get that Mew?” Gary asked. “And how’d you get a License?”

“Professor Oak let me take the test and let me have Niji since the other trainers had already gotten their first Pokémon.”

“My grandpa wouldn’t do a thing like that!” Gary exclaimed. “Doing so would threaten his own standing in the league. He’d get expelled.”

“Wait!” Rose said, looking at both of them, slightly confused. “You mean…” her hand pointed between both Denny and Gary, back and forth, looking at them in disbelief. “You,” she pointed at Gary. “Are Professor Oak’s grandson?!”

Gary wasn’t paying attention to her, but her comment was right. He was looking at Denny and Niji in front of him. Mew was supposed to be powerful, able to disappear in seconds, calm storms with its mind, and hold all sorts of mystical powers. Why it wasn’t in the Pokédex was disturbing, and what got him even more riled was that it was Denny’s first Pokémon.

“Okay Denny,” he said, eyes narrowing. “Let’s have a battle. My Charmeleon against your Mew!”

“Wait! What?!”

“Mew is supposed to be powerful, and if I can defeat it, then I can show that I’m the strongest trainer in Kanto.”

“But the season just started two weeks ago,” Rose replied. “You couldn’t have gained that much strength.”

“I train my Pokémon hard,” Gary replied. “All day and night so they can be the strongest ever and win the championship at the end of the season. And beating Mew will even further prove that I’m the strongest Trainer. Go Charmeleon, Slash!”

Gary’s Charmeleon poised her claws and rushed forward again, right at Niji, while Denny was still close. He held the Mew as Gary’s Pokémon dashed at them. Denny knew that Niji didn’t want to fight, and he wasn’t about to force the Mew to do what she didn’t want to do. But Gary didn’t understand any of that, in fact Denny was just as surprised that Oak didn’t tell his grandson about what had happened.

Right now, coming at the trainer and Pokémon was a battle-ready Charmeleon, claws bared and a sneer in her eye. A flash of movement, and Loki locked claws with the Charmeleon, stopping the assault before she could land a strike. The two flame Pokémon stood there, pushing each other, but Loki was losing ground, being pushed back by Gary’s Charmeleon.

“Loki, Seismic Toss!”

Loki glared at the Charmeleon before him. He shifted his weight, planting his feet and got ready to heave his opponent away.

“Stand your ground!”

The look on Rose’s Pokémon’s face would have been comical if this wasn’t a battle. Despite shifting his weight and planting his feet, Loki couldn’t get the pivot point he needed to lift the challenging Charmeleon, let alone throw her. Gary’s Pokémon sneered before slashing out with her claws, leaving three crimson red marks across Loki’s face. The wound wasn’t deep, but it did sting and forced Loki to back off, closing one eye against the pain.

“Submission.”

Gary’s Charmeleon crossed her arms staring at Loki with defiance in her eyes. Loki stared back, his perception off with blood running into one of his eyes, and he kept it closed. He was usually ready for anything, and was sure he could fight one of his own kind. But this one. This one was strong. She had stopped his Seismic Toss by pure strength and force of will. And now he could feel her prepare for her next attack. The Charmeleon started to glow with a faint aura before she rushed forward, slamming hard into Loki, sending the male Charmeleon flying backwards, skipping along the ground like a stone on water.

The fourth bounce came and Loki dug his claws into the ground, leaving the trio of claw marks etched into the soft earth. Denny and Niji managed to roll out of the way before Loki’s deceleration finally slowed him down, and the other Pokémon scrambled out of the way. Rose ran up to keep up, and Gary and his Charmeleon continued to press the assault.

“Mega Kick!”

Through the pain and aches going through his body, Loki concentrated his energy towards his foot, using his other to balance himself. His foot started to glow from the energy, through the pain, he was going to land a decent hit. As she got closer, Loki dropped, grabbing the ground and twisting his body, giving himself leverage, speed, and power.

“Counter.”

Loki’s foot connected with the Charmeleon, the speed and power he gave himself lent him a slight edge in the attack. However, Gary’s was trained enough to act in a split second. She had raised one of her arms to block the attack as Loki’s energy charged foot was a few inches away from connecting with her, his shin blocked by her fore-arm. The Charmeleon’s jaw dropped at the thought. He had been stopped, in a split second by someone stronger. They two were stopped in that counter, before Gary’s Charmeleon swung with her other hand, slamming it right into Loki’s midsection.

The Charmander evolution line has a set of stomach ribs that give their chest and torso support as well as extra surface area for muscle attachment. These gastralia and the muscle attachment deny the strength of their punches and slashes due to the apparent size of their arms. The support it gives is also important because it protects the internal organs from severe damage. However, such force on the right area can knock the wind out of even a Charmeleon. This is how Loki felt as the female Charmeleon hit him square in his stomach, and went sprawling.

“Loki!”

“Damn that’s a strong Charmeleon,” Jake commented, watching the fight.

Niji wouldn’t have stood a chance against it, Denny thought, watching as Loki got thrown to the side like nothing.

“Okay,” Gary said. “Now, come on Denny, let’s see what your Mew can do.” His Charmeleon glared at them both.

“Forget it Gary,” he replied. “Niji doesn’t want to fight, and I’m not going to force her.”

“What? A Pokémon and trainer who don’t want to battle?” Gary was confused. “Then what’s the point of getting your license?!”

“Well for one, it’s not all about strength,” Jake replied. “Your Charmeleon is strong, very strong. But not everyone with a license aims for the top of the League. But they have to be a part of it to work with Pokémon.”

“To do what? Just have them as a pet? Pokémon are about battles. Strength is the only thing that matters, and proving that you’re strong.” He was disgusted with this. Denny was known to be a bit wishy-washy, but not a coward. Denny didn’t want to fight, even though fighting was all that Gary had done, to get stronger, to beat every opponent. What point was there in fighting a weakling when your strength was already known.

He turned and started to walk away, his Charmeleon following.

“Hold it!” Rose shouted. Gary stopped and looked back.

Loki was pushing himself up, blood still in his eye, but the wound was healing now. His body was sore but the determination in his eyes didn’t falter, even though he was having trouble standing. The look in his eyes was mirrored by Rose’s own. She wouldn’t lose like this, not to an upstart like Gary.

“We’re not finished here,” she said.

“I think we are,” Gary replied. “I beat your Pokémon and made my point. There’s no reason to keep beating you down.”

Denny watched as Gary continued to walk off. He had seen that part of Gary’s personality, the stubbornness about being the best compared to everyone. It was what drove the young man forward, and getting his Trainer’s License only made his competitive side worse.

“Get back here!” Rose shouted, fuming mad. “We’re not done until I beat you!”

“She’s… tenacious. Isn’t she?” Jake commented.

“You have no idea,” Denny replied.

* * *

Denny’s injuries from Gary’s Charmeleon were decent, but not life-threatening. Jake and Rose used the group’s first aid kit to clean the wounds before wrapping them with cloth. Niji didn’t want to leave his side for the next few days, hovering by her friend and staying in his arms when she could. Through the pain, he was going to be alright, but Niji’s concern and the attention from Rose and Jake re-affirmed Denny’s own thoughts about earlier.

True, he couldn’t be a Pokémon Trainer and shoot for the League. Battling was fun, but that’s all it was to him. Fun. It was a challenge, but he didn’t want to force his Pokémon into a fight just to prove their strength. What point is there in fighting if you don’t enjoy life? There are those who fight to prove something, rather than learn from what they’ve done in the past. After he started his own trip he had drawn and sketched along the way, enjoying the sights, sounds, watching Rose’s battles, and Jake’s quips.

They traveled to the eastern ocean, enjoying the sun-set before they headed south, though a collection of mountains separate from the Silver Range, and caused more by plate tectonics. The edges of a continent pushing against each other and building mountains out of flat-lands.

Traveling south, they had to detour through the Rock Tunnel, stopping at the Pokémon Center stationed outside the entrance. Just like with Mount Moon, it was a place to stop, rest and prepare to head through the pitch-black darkness of the Tunnel. Inside, it was so dark that they ended bumping into each other frequently, before Rose let out Loki and had him light the way for them all.

Of course the result of that ended up with trainers who were also traveling the tunnel wanting a battle. Not all of them did, a few spent their time with lanterns sitting at small stops along the way, resting before continuing on. Others were there incase the tunnel started to collapse, the incident at Mount Moon fresh in everyone’s mind. The tunnel itself was more intricately carved out than Mount Moon, and the lighting fixtures were faulty, leaving the tunnel in darkness most of the time.

The group had continued to catch what Pokémon they could find, sometimes catching them, and sometimes leaving them alone and watching as they went about their lives. Jake added a Krabby to his team, and then an Onix that had cornered them in one of the lower terraces of Rock Tunnel. Rose found something really rare, a Vulpix, and nearly got burned because she tried to hug it before catching it. While unsure about catching it, Denny had managed to catch a Nidorino that took an odd liking to him, maybe he shouldn’t have fed it so often.

After two days in the tunnel, the group saw an opening and stepped out, into a cool early morning.

“Whew!” Rose said, lowering her arms and letting her shoulders slump. “Glad that’s over.” Loki was standing next to his trainer, sighing at her.

“Sunlight! At last!” Jake exclaimed.

“Looks like it’s straight south from here,” Denny said, petting Niji as she rested on his shoulder.

The trail before them wasn’t straight or even. Mountains rose off either side, leaving their only course of movement down a river-valley carved out of the rocks around them. There was a trail, although it was small, and unsteady, it was the only clear way away from the tunnel and to their next destination.

Denny lead the group, letting Rose bring up the rear she and Loki had been at the front, finding their way through the Tunnel. Niji rested on his shoulder looking up at the trees that were growing around them, amazed at the leaves that blocked some of the sunlight through.

“So,” Jake said, looking at the map of Kanto on his Pokédex. “After going through Rock Tunnel, and headed south… we should be near a place called Lavender Town.”

“Lavender Town, eh?” Denny said, still walking in front. “After camping on rocks it should be nice to get a decent place to sleep huh?”

“You could say that,” Rose replied, holding her back and trying to pop it back into place after sleeping on some odd rocks last night.

They continued walking southward, the light of the early morning slowly raising while a fog started to cloud their path. The group walked, following the valley southward. Walking down the path, the trail inclined downward, showing a fog covered area before them. Thick, the fog let only the highest parts of the tree canopy escape into the sun shining down on them. There was something else, a tall spire of rock seemed to stretch into the sky, piercing it like an arrow.

With every step they got closer, and could see that the spire striking the sky, was actually a building, over seven stories tall, the top half sticking out over the fog. Closer still, they could see lights shine through the fog. Buildings started to emerge as they walked into the fog, following the trail into Lavender Town.

The town was famous for its massive tower, a burial place for deceased Pokémon. In the valley where Lavender rested, a massive thick fog constantly swamped it every morning, except for some of the hottest parts of the year. The fog would hover around the town, sometimes not dissipating until early afternoon or late evening. Such a fog gave the town a constant eerie feel, like it was Halloween every day. Street lights were on, the light showing the way through the fog that covered the town.

The lights of the Pokémon Center glowed through the fog, like a lighthouse to lost ships at sea. The group went in, glad to be out of the chill of the fog which hovered over Lavender Town like a blanket of death.

“Brrr,” Rose commented as she walked through the doors, rubbing her arms to get rid of the numb feeling. “What’s with the fog?”

“Finally,” Jake added, a shiver running down his spine. “Cold sucks.”

Denny looked back at them and smiled. The cold didn’t bother him that much, of course Niji managed to snuggle right into his jacket, so he had a little Pokémon using him for warmth. “It wasn’t that bad guys,” he commented right before the Mew popped her head out from inside his jacket, shivering and voicing her disagreement. “What? It wasn’t.”

“That’s Lavender Town’s famous fog,” said the head nurse of the Center. “It rolls in every morning and stays sometimes till dusk. Are you all trainers.”

“Some of us,” Jake retorted rubbing his hands, urging warmth into them. The sensation of a cold skin meeting the warm interior of a building cut off from the outside running up and down his hands. Denny narrowed his eyes at the young scientist’s comment as Niji squirmed back down into his coat, he kept a hand there to give the Mew some support as she curled up within his jacket.

“Could we get a couple of rooms?” Rose asked, handing her Pokéballs to the nurse.

“Of course,” she replied, taking the group’s Pokémon to be treated. “It should be a few moments before your Pokémon have been treated.”

The doors to the center opened and a cold wind came blowing in, causing Jake to shiver again.

“Damn cold,” he muttered.

“My my,” said an elderly voice. “Such weather we have today. Hello Ms. Heather.”

The group looked behind them, at the man who just entered the Center. He was shorter than they, by about a foot. His hair was gone and the lights reflected off of his clean head. White eyebrows rested on his brow and his nose was shaped like a crone’s. The man walked without a cane, but with some spring in his step, as if his age didn’t bother him as much as it should. There was a slight hunch to his posture, but he kept a smile on his face. A large brown trench coat was wrapped around him as he walked in, smiling.

“Oh, Mr. Fuji, thanks for coming on such short notice,” she said placing Denny, Rose and Jake’s Pokémon in the machine to restore and revitalize them. She walked back behind the door to the office and then came out holding a pet carrier. It was obvious that something was moving around inside the carrier, but its shape was difficult to make out.

“We found the poor thing in the dumpster outback, it looked like it hadn’t eaten in days. There was a trainer mark on her, but the Pokéball finally shattered and the mark went away.” She placed the carrier on the counter.

“What is it? A Pokémon?” Denny asked.

“She just said there was a trainer mark that came off, duh,” Jake replied.

“Who abandoned it?” Rose asked.

“We’re not sure,” the nurse replied. “But whoever it was must have mistreated her badly. When we tried to treat her, but she attacked some of the staff. We had to place her on some heavy sedatives to be able to treat her wounds.”

Mr. Fuji, calmly opened the carrier door, and everyone heard a loud “rawr” followed by a hissing spit. Unphased, Fuji lowered himself so that he could look inside the carrier. Slowly he offered his hand to the Pokémon inside the cage.

“Come now. No one will hurt you. No reason to be afraid.”

The hissing seemed to stop as Fuji spoke. Such calm reassurance in his words. Slowly, the Pokémon came out of the carrier, still scared, but calmed down. A cat-like head popped out, with large blue eyes and a golden coin structure protruding from the head. Thick collections of whiskers stuck out from the sides of the face and brushed against the edges of the cage. Carefully the Meowth walked out of the cage, watching everyone cautiously. She sniffed Fuji’s hand, meowed at him, before rubbing up against his hand, letting out a soft purr.

“Thank you Mr. Fuji,” Heather said, smiling. “She was giving us such trouble.”

The old man just chuckled. “Oh she’s no trouble at all. A might friendly though,” he replied picking up the Meowth in his arms and letting it curl up there.

“Wow,” Denny said, wide eyed. “That was amazing. How’d you do that?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?” Fuji said smiling.

“Calm her down like that.”

“Mr. Fuji here is renowned around Lavender for his kind heart. He takes in abandoned Pokémon and raises them so that they can go back to the wild.”

“Some claim that Pokémon can sense those with kind hearts and are more accepting to such humans. I suppose it’s a natural gift,” Fuji added, petting the Meowth gently.

Denny reached out with his hand to pet the Meowth, which was a bad idea.

Still upset on some level, the feline Pokémon lashed out just as Denny’s hand had gotten within range. With a spitting hiss, she swiped at the hand as if it were a rival for her very survival, claws and teeth bared. His reflexes saving his hand, Denny pulled back at the last minute, even taking a step back.

“Easy, easy there,” Fuji reassured the Meowth, speaking calmly and soothingly, touching it gently. The Pokémon’s hair relaxed and it repositioned itself in Fuji’s arms. “I’m terribly sorry about that. Seems that this one is still traumatized. Allow me to make it up to you.”

“Um… sure?” Denny responded.

“Wait!” Rose sounded. “Him, make it up to you? You’re the one that got the Meowth fighting mad again!”

“Oh it’s no trouble, I assure you,” Fuji responded. “I enjoy having a few guests over who understand what I do. And I know the perfect kind of food for weather such as this.”

“But our Pokémon..” Jake protested.

“They’ll be fine here,” Heather reassured. “I won’t let anyone else have them, I promise. Rest will do anyone some good, so go enjoy yourselves.”

* * *

[Mew Master]

It could be said that Lavender Town had a sense of spooky floating around it. Of course such a thing would be an understatement. Even with the sun rising higher over head, the temperature and fog, was refusing to dissipate. Clinging to the town like the fingers of death. Such a dreary appearance to the town sharply contrasted with Fuji’s cheerful demeanor as they walked along the street to his home.

The house itself didn’t seem anything special, however. It was a bit smaller than the other buildings throughout the town, and it seemed to be older, as if constructed nearly a century before, or just built to resemble such. Fuji opened the door and ushered everyone into a small hallway with a ledge to take off their shoes and a shelf for such. He let the Meowth out of his arms and took his own shoes and jacket off.

Behind him was a set of sliding doors that lead to a much larger living chamber. Pillows were stacked in the corner of the room with a large table in the center. Pictures were hanging up along the wall, along with shelves of personal items that belonged to Fuji. Of the pictures there was one of a much younger Fuji next to several others in graduation robes, each smiling. The image was in black and white, and had some faded edges despite the newer frame. Others shown Fuji, much closer to his current age in a pit hat and light brown kakhis in what looked like a tropical jungle.

“You have a nice home,” Rose commented, looking at some of the little Pokémon figurines on the shelves.

“Why thank you,” he responded before letting out a healthy shout. “Everyone, I’m home!”

At once the sounds of a dozen feet echoed through an adjacent room. The Meowth cowered a bit behind Fuji’s legs as the sounds turned into four Pokémon letting out exciting exclamations at Fuji’s return. Some were generic Pokémon that the group had seen, but they all crashed into a wiggling mass of legs, stingers, flippers, and paws as they jumped onto Fuji in a massive version of a tackling hug. He hit the ground hard, but was smiling as he hugged the group of Pokémon.

“Yes, yes, I’m back, I’m back. My goodness did you all miss me that much?” He laughed and started to push himself up.

The Pokémon scattered around Fuji’s legs as he stood up, a bright smile on his face. Of the Pokémon there, the group could recognize some of them. There was a Poliwag, like Rose’s Susanoo, and a Pikachu cleaning its ears.

Creeping along Fuji’s shoulders was a multi-segmented Pokémon. Its body was a light brown, with two legs on each segment. The tail end had a sharp spike on the end as it undulated its body along Fuji’s shoulders. A large sharp spike adorned the head, right above two beady, dark, compound eyes.

A larger Pokémon stood, a small head with a largely pudgy body. The head was small compared to the body, and resembled a turtle. The skin was pink with pale white striations along the stomach in large crescent shaped stripes and two circles around the knees. The arms and leg each had a single claw, with the claw on the forearm smaller and a thumb-like structure. There was a thick curled tail behind the large body as it looked at the group.

“These were all abandoned?” Jake asked.

“Hmm? Yes. Yes they were,” he replied patting the Weedle on his shoulders. “They’ve been staying with me for the last few weeks. And in a bit I think some of them will move on. But we can discuss that later, how about I get some food started, hmm?”

The next hour was spent with Rose playing happily with the rescued Pokémon while Denny and Jake talked to Fuji about why he seemed to devote his life to caring for abandoned Pokémon. The smell of a beef stew seemed to sift through the air as thick as the fog outside in Lavender Town, and the group could feel their stomachs growl at just the smell.

Denny felt Niji start to stir under his jacket. The Mew’s head poked out from where the jacket’s zipper was lowest, just under her trainer’s chin. With half opened sleepy eyes, she looked around before yawning.

“So, decided to join us huh?” Denny asked the little Pokémon, who replied with a sleepy mew.

“Awe,” Rose commented leaning closer. “You’re so cute when you’re sleepy Niji.”

“Niji,” Fuji commented, his back to the group. He started turning towards them with the ladle in his hand, “What are you…”

The ladle hit the floor with a metal clang, sending the stew sauce splattering everywhere. Fuji’s eyes were wide open as he stared at Niji, the small little Pokémon that was pulled out of Denny’s jacket and now being hugged by Rose. It couldn’t be, could it? Such a rare Pokémon, returning, in the hands of a young trainer, and so small as well. A feeling of dread crept up Fuji’s spine as he watched the little Pokémon start chatting with the others in his care, even the Meowth he had taken from the Center. It was talking from the safety and comfort of Rose’s arms, looking at the other Pokémon shyly, almost curious but afraid.

“Mr. Fuji,” Jake asked, snapping the elder man out of his spiraling thoughts. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm? Yes, yes I am, “ he collected himself, bending over to pick up the ladle. “Just a bit clumsy in my old age I suppose.”

Niji let out a yawn. In her sleepy state, she was getting mixed feelings from those around her. Serenity, joy, confusion, worry, dread, guilt, sorrow. A deep aching sorrow throbbed in her mind and she looked around to find the source. There were two places it was coming from, but the deepest sorrow was coming from near the doorway. She tilted her head as she looked. Scrambling over in Rose’s arms, she reached over and grabbed her trainer’s coat, tugging on it and getting his attention.

“Hmm?” Deny said looking at the Mew. “Something wrong Niji?” She pointed towards the darkened doorway, and Denny looked as well.

There was a Pokémon by the door. It was small, but a bit larger than Niji herself. He could see an odd shape for a head, like the skull of some type of dinosaur or horned reptile. He could only see one eye as it hid most of itself behind the doorway. In the darkness, it looked like the Pokémon had a brown hide, with some scales. There was a look of fear in its eyes as it looked at the group there.

“Mr. Fuji…” Denny started, as Fuji himself was placing bowls on the table and then the pot of stew.

“Hmm,” the old man replied, trying not to fixate on Niji as he worked around the table and eventually took a seat for himself.

“Who’s that?” He pointed towards the door.

Fuji looked back and instantly he knew what Denny was asking about. “That, is a Cubone.”

“Was he abandoned too?” Rose asked with Niji in her arms.

“Not, in the same sense as a trainer abandoning a Pokémon,” Fuji replied as he started serving the stew. “He’s an orphan. His mother was killed.”

“Killed?” Jake said as he took his own bowl. “By what?”

Fuji poured bowls for all the Pokémon as he told the story. “A few days ago, late at night, I couldn’t sleep. So I went out for a walk among the gravestones and Lavender Tower. Thousands of Pokémon are buried here, their final resting places giving their human friends a chance to grieve since the world is never forgiving.

“As I was walking up the tower, I heard the sounds of a fight going on in the upper levels. So I rushed up to see who would defile a sacred place with a battle. As I rushed up the stairs to the top level, I was passed by two men dressed in black. In the darkness I couldn’t see any individual features, but what I did see, was the body of a Marowak, and her blood on the floor.”

There was a bit of silence around the table, even the Pokémon had stopped eating as they felt the sadness in Fuji’s voice. His solemn tone was so drastic from his earlier joy and happiness that it took everyone off guard. The emotion could be felt, through his words, and through his eyes as he stared at the table, before continuing on with his tale.

“The Marowak was gone. The spark of her life already faded. As I came up to the body I saw a smaller form convulsing in sorrow. It was that Cubone there. He had been targeted by some trainers for some reason. Possibly to capture, possibly to sell, I’m not sure. However his mother came to his aid and was killed in the process of defending her young. Such is the power of a mother’s love.” Fuji took a small drink of water before continuing. “When I found him, he was in mourning for his mother. Frantically calling to her, pushing her to move. He was so focused on bringing her back that he didn’t notice me, or that she was beyond saving.

“And I picked him up and gave his mother a proper burial with a simple gravestone. He’s been so afraid of anyone or anything that he won’t even play with the other Pokémon here who have gone through similar pain but…”

“But not as painful as losing your mother,” Jake finished.

“Yes,” Fuji admitted. “Nothing quite that painful. I will just do all that I can for him until he himself is ready to move on.”

The conversation was low for a while, Fuji still shaken by his own story, even the other Pokémon and Niji were careful about becoming too joyful and playful so soon after such a tale. However, the sorrow of the past was retained in memory, but space made for happier moments as Fuji’s rescued Pokémon convinced Niji to play, which she did reluctantly at first, but was then more enthusiastic. The group stayed at Fuji, as he retold stories of his own trainer journey before he became a caretaker of abandoned and injured Pokémon. Denny started sketching the fun they were having while listening to the conversation between Rose, Jake and Fuji. The young man’s concentration kept going towards the Cubone who was watching the others from the darkness. Alone, and afraid.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the young Pokémon and what kind of sorrow it must be under. To lose its mother, to lose its family in such a way was something that he could barely comprehend. He wanted to say that he understood how it felt, however he really didn’t. He still had his family, and he wasn’t alone, even though his parents were back in Pallet. Friends were still with him, so he was never truly alone. Looking up one more time at the Cubone, he grabbed a bowl and poured some stew, a small amount, before standing and walking towards the door.

“Denny, what are you…?” Rose asked as he stood and headed to the door. Niji stopped and watched him as he kneeled down and placed the bowl near the door.

The Cubone had run off, but its foot falls alerted Denny that he was still close by.

“Listen,” Denny said softly. “I can’t begin to comprehend what you are going through. To lose your family in an act like that is… incomprehensible. I can sympathize, but I can’t fully understand the pain and hurt you are in right now. But, you aren’t truly alone now. You have friends, these other Pokémon who have been through their own kind of pain, and they can help you. Others can help you too. You might not trust humans again, but you shouldn’t hide away from everyone either.” He stood up and walked back to the table, getting his jacket. “Um… I think we better get back before Nurse Heather thinks we got lost in the fog. Thank you for the food Mr. Fuji.”

“Yeah,” Rose added. “Once the morning hits we should get out of here and head to Celadon!”

“Celadon?” Jake asked, worried. “Why there?! All it is, is a giant shopping mall.”

“Like Goldenrod’s any better,” she retorted. “Too many people stacked straight up.”

The two started making comments about the cities of Johto against Kanto, and Denny and Fuji just chuckled nervously.

“With this much energy they should be able to sleep tonight,” Fuji commented with a chuckle.

“If they even stop to sleep,” Denny added. “Come on Niji, we’re going to get some sleep.”

Niji turned away from the group she was playing with. With some quick goodbye’s she floated over to Denny, but lost control at the last second and fell into his arms instead of landing in them. As the group walked out, Niji was looking over Denny’s shoulder, back at the doorway. With a smile she waved at the Cubone hiding in the shadows.

When the strangers left, the Cubone looked out a bit more from his hiding spot. Leaning more into the light. In front of him was a bowl of hot stew ready to eat. He looked at the door, then at the bowl a few times, turning things over in his mind. Placing his bone club down on the floor, he carefully began to eat the stew. As Fuji watched this, even his mind was starting to calm from the surprise of a Mew, as well as the starting recovery of this Cubone.

* * *

That night, as the half moon shone down on the fogless Lavender Town, inside the Pokémon Center, two bodies lay sleeping. One, was snoring slightly. Sprawled on his back, Denny had the blankets of his bed half way up his chest. Resting on the human’s torso was Niji, who rose and fell with each breath her trainer took.

Niji started stirring awake however. There was something, something that pushed her awake. Was it her trainer’s snoring and some flailing in bed. No. That wasn’t it. It was something though. Some strong feeling. Yawning, Niji pushed herself up and blinked sleepily across the dark room, with only little light coming in from the window. Jake was sleeping quietly, his surface thoughts were almost blank, but this just showed that he was deep asleep. Denny was as well, so what was getting her attention.

Still sluggish, Niji floated over to the window and looked out, placing her hands on the window sil. She looked through the window at the night and yawned as she did so. Something was bugging her, she could still feel the guilt, the sorrow, the apology building within someone.

Then she noticed something. Someone was standing by a light pole, hiding away from the light. And the feelings were coming from them.

Looking back at Denny, Niji reached up and flipped the latch on the window before pushing it open. With a little wiggling, Niji slipped out through the open window, and into the cold night air. Her fur stood on end as the muscles and nerves under her skin extended her individual hairs, increasing the buffer between her small body and the cold air. She started shivering as she floated over to the person, keeping a fair distance away.

This was the other source of guilt and sorrow she had felt earlier. It was disheartening, and it made her sad as well. Why was this one so sorrowful and full of guilt? Should they be so sad. There wasn’t a reason to be, Niji could sense the happiness being suppressed by the emotion of sorrow and sadness clouding the person’s mind.

“I’m sorry.”

Niji tilted her head a bit, floating there. Sorry? Guilt? Over what? Why does this person feel the need to apologize to her.

“I’m so sorry,” he continued to say. “I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Curiosity started to replace her caution, as Niji could feel the sincere guilt and remorse from the person. She could also tell what the emotions were being directed to. They were directed at her. Slowly, she started to float closer to the man, wondering why he was so sorrowful and apologizing to her. Her ears twitched as a new sound met her ears.

He was crying.

“I can’t ask you to forgive me for the pain you went through.” The voice was familiar, the human from earlier, the one who had the young Cubone in his home with the other Pokémon. “There is no way that I can ever make it up to you, what I had started, what I had done to you…” Fuji was crying softly, tears starting to go down his cheeks.

Niji was confused, she was also saddened by Fuji’s sorrow. She couldn’t read thoughts very well, and human minds were very difficult to read even the surface thoughts. But here, this human was directing his sorrow and regret towards her and she didn’t know why. Her heart ached at how much he seemed so full of sadness and anguish, and watching him cry almost brought tears to her eyes as well.

Fuji knew he was crying. He knew and he didn’t care. Much he had done in his life for the betterment of Pokémon, and one mistake had left a scar on his soul. And this Mew, this little creature was reminding him of what he had done. He felt a little finger brush against his cheek, catching a tear. Opening his eyes he saw Niji floating close to his face, the tear drop on one of her fingers.

The Pokémon looked sad, and confused. She looked at the tear on her finger then at Fuji, the look of emotion in her face showed concern and worry for him. She let the tear run off her finger as she looked at Fuji. He could feel the Pokémon worrying about him, the look in her bright eyes was evident as much.

“I’m…. sorry,” was all he could mutter as he felt the sorrow wash over him again.

He felt the soft pelt of Niji press against his forehead as she gently placed her hands on his head. Fuji didn’t know what to expect. This Mew was touching him, in a way similar to someone trying to comfort another. He looked up slightly at Niji as she looked at him, worry in her eyes.

From her eyes, Fuji could tell what she meant. Perhaps she didn’t know the reason why he was so sorrowful towards her. For something that he may or may not have had power over. The look in her eyes and the feeling he received from her seemed to roll down his mind like a blanket. And in Niji’s eyes and her intention, he could understand the message.

Do not be sad any more.

And Fuji cried once more, with Niji trying to comfort him through his storm of emotions.

* * *

Denny awoke briefly to the feeling of a small cold body landing a bit abruptly on his head. In his sleep induced stupor he mumbled something about Niji needing more practice on her flying before falling back to sleep.

Niji, herself, dug herself closer to her trainer. She could feel some of his conscious thoughts at the surface, and they weren’t filled with sorrow, or anger, or regret. Some annoyance, but also consideration for her safety.

She recalled the strong feelings of sorrow and guilt from Fuji, and in trying to remove the memory from her mind, dug closer to her Trainer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Many things stir a heart. Caring for others at the expense of your own alienation is a great virtue. Knowing when to indulge in such an action, is a necessity. Rose returns to her hometown of Celadon City with Denny, Niji, and Jake in tow. Striving for the next level in the League, her childhood friend is at odds with her companions, and the following actions drive a wedge between them all.

Next: Standing Up

Just a note that this chapter had so many different ways that it could have gone. Since I wanted to follow the line of the Games a bit, but expanding on some issues that were really left up to the individuals interpretation, I thought it essential to start planting seeds of wonder, confusion, and grabbing your attention with it. I wanted to go a few different routes with the chapter, but I think the path I decided on was a better option than trying to throw in the different angles I wanted to do.

One angle dealt with the Lavender Tower and the Ghost there, needinga Silph Scope to be order to see and combat them, as well as the death of the Marowak that's a Game Plot Point. There was also Fuji, Team Rocket, and the whole path that the game takes. So, I decided to split it up a little bit. Now, the next few sections MAY be a little... two parted. But there is much to talk about and cover, and I hope you guys can stick along for the ride.

Thanks.