Journey

Death of Duty

Part 1 – The Novice

Wilderness

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Sometimes the biggest dangers to a trainer come from unexpected sources. That's why it's always a good idea to travel in groups. Trainers help each other. — Professor Augustine Sycamore

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It was nearly dusk when we finally made camp. I'd walked as far eastwards from Pewter as I could in a day and still barely covered a quarter of the distance to Mount Moon. If I'd had the money to pay for a teleport back to Cerulean, I would have. Unfortunately, what little prize money I earned for beating Brock went into some much needed supplies for our journey. Between enough of Curie's specialized formula to last until Cerulean and a few emergency rations for myself, I barely had enough left over to cover the cost of the three empty poke balls that sat at the bottom of my heavy travel bag.

Fortunately, Luna and I were excellent hunters. She'd already brought me a pair of pidgey while I dug a small fire pit and dragged some kindling into the hole. I'd shot a third from a tree with my bow when it had come to investigate our presence.

By the time the sun was setting, we had a fire crackling and I was halfway through mixing Curie's specialized formula with some of the oran berries that Luna had sniffed out for us. Technically I wasn't supposed to mix the formula with anything but boiled water, but when I'd researched how to stretch the formula longer I found dozens of training articles that recommended mixing with some crushed oran berries and water to stretch my supply just a little bit longer.

I handed Curie the bottle of pale purple liquid with a smile. She gently deposited her precious rock back into her pouch and eagerly took the bottle from me. My baby cooed and leaned back in the makeshift nest she had made in the top of my pack, pounding back the formula as though she had never eaten before.

I set back to work on the trio of pidgey, removing the unwanted innards and skewering them on my hastily carved spit. I left them leaning over the fire and turned back to the cuttings. I lifted the flat rock that I'd found to use as my cutting board and offered the scraps to Luna. She turned her nose up at me and I couldn't help but sigh in frustration. She was a snob with her food since she had joined me. If it wasn't prepared specially for her, she wouldn't even sniff it. She could cook her own food to be clear when needed. She just didn't want to. Why do something for yourself when you have a perfectly good human to do it, I guess.

Most trainers balked at eating meat from pokemon, something that I simply did not have the option of. Most trainers were far more well off than I had been. My family had never had the luxury of affording a vegetarian lifestyle, but with me off on my own? I was broke to say the least. I couldn't afford more than a few emergency rations, let alone a full supply of vegetarian meals for the trip.

Hunting for our food was by far the cheapest option, so with a lack of funds compared to the sponsored trainers of the world, meat was the only option. I supplemented that with berries that I recognized and had managed to find at least something most of the nights since I had departed home, even if I was a little bored with eating hunted pidgey.

I set down the scraps and turned back to back to the fire. I froze. A little tan pokemon was sitting patiently at the edge of the firelight. It sat back on its hind legs, sniffing cautiously at the air.

Luna growled suddenly, following my gaze to the minuscule sandshrew watching our meal. I hissed at her to be quiet, hoping she wouldn't launch at our guest and spook him. A sandslash could be a powerful member of our team. Perhaps the wild pokemon could be enticed to join us.

I reached down, grabbing a handful of the cuttings. The sandshrew's tongue flitted out and it looked nervously between me and the meat in my hand. I tossed the scraps towards the sandshrew and it disappeared into the night as the meat landed harmlessly in the dirt.

I sat down by the fire, dunking my hands in my small pot of warm water and scrubbing the viscera from them. By the time I looked back up, the meat was gone and the sandshrew was looking at me from the other side of the fire. It licked its chops and looked down at the rest of my cuttings expectantly.

I smiled and turned the trio of skewered pidgey over. I got to my feet and picked up the flat rock full of cuttings. I walked over to the sandshrew. He ran as I approached, but not out of the firelight this time. He watched me put the rock down and walk back to my side of the fire. Only when I had taken my seat and gone back to roasting the skinned pidgey did the sandshrew move back into the light.

It was smaller than I had expected, probably the runt of the litter or a lonely outcast. The smell of fresh meat cooking had drawn it in, overriding its natural fear of humans. It was hungry, likely malnourished if its size was anything to go by. I wondered for a moment about it, watching the sandshrew inch closer to the food.

It stole a bite from the rock, eyes never leaving me. I went back to my fire, checking the pidgey to be sure I didn't burn it. The sandshrew abandoned all pretences, scarfing down the feast of scraps that I had left for it.

I smiled happily as I pulled my meal off the fire. It was maybe a little blackened, but it was still edible. Luna whined as I tore off a leg and presented her a charred chunk of pidgey.

"Come on, I'm getting better but you knew I was a bad cook before we even started this." I waved the burnt pidgey at her and left it in front of her, knowing that she was gonna refuse it until she was damn near starving. "If you don't like it, then cook your own food next time."

I sighed as Luna sniffed at the pidgey cautiously and turned her nose up at it. "Fine, starve yourself." I tore a chunk off my own meal and ate it as noisily as I could. It was dry and bland, but I hadn't eaten anything that day since the few handfuls of the berries we'd scavenged along the way. It was the best damn meal I could have wished for after a long day of travel.

I reached for the second pidgey as I finished the first. My hand brushed something hard and smooth and I damn near jumped out of my own skin. The sandshrew squeaked madly and scampered off into the night, my second pidgey clutched in its little jaws.

I swore and leapt to my feet. My hand went into my bag for a ball, whipping it uselessly off into the night. I made it two steps after the sandshrew before I realized that it was futile.

"Little bastard!" I shouted as I shook my fist. "That was mine!"

A high pitched yipping erupted behind me. I turned and locked my eyes on my starter. Luna was yipping madly, her meal of berries forgotten in the dirt. I thought she was choking for a half-panicked moment, and then it hit me. Luna was laughing. My own starter was laughing mercilessly at my misfortune.

I frowned and sighed angrily. As if it wasn't enough to lose most of my dinner to a damn sandshrew, my own starter was laughing at me. I sat down in a huff, leaning back against my oversized pack. I pulled out the bag of berries that we had scavenged, resigned to my meagre dinner.

Then Luna took that moment to decide that my lap looked more comfortable than the ground. She curled up on my lap, lounging her head on her tails and looking up at me with her big brown eyes. I scratched under her neck and smiled as my frustration faded away.

"Y'know," I started as I ripped off another leg off of the remaining pidgey. I tossed it towards Luna and reached for the berries. "Good thing you're cute. Cuz I don't know how else I'd put up with your stubborn tails."

I lifted a berry up to my mouth and opened it to toss it in. Luna whined loudly. I sighed heavily and divided the berries between us. I shoved her half of the berries and the rest of her pidgey towards her and leaned back into my bedroll to look at the stars.

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The next two days went by relatively smoothly. Both nights, we set up camp and hosted the same sandshrew. Both nights, it scampered off and left Luna and I after a small meal. On the third night, I butchered and cooked an extra pidgey for the little pokemon. It gladly devoured the fowl and disappeared into the night. I never saw it again.

Our days were spent battling against wild pokemon that challenged the strangers traipsing through their territory. Once, just below the tree line on Mount Moon, we did spot a fearow looking for an easy meal. It soared overhead, effortlessly coasting on massive wings. Luna and I kept quiet in the trees while we waited for it to pass, simply watching the mid-day clouds drift by.

We didn't run into any trainers, save for a five-badge intermediate rank that wasn't interested in conversation with a novice like myself. His flareon growled at us as we passed and I could feel the temperature rise several degrees.

Luna growled at the provocation, but I shut her down quickly. We didn't need to pick fights with trainers that could accidentally maim us without trying. As much as Luna wanted to, my vulpix was nothing compared to anyone above a novice level. She just didn't have the raw strength yet to battle at that level, even if she had the temperament for it.

I often let Luna loose while we walked along the trail. I'd done much the same on our way through to Pewter and felt comfortable enough to do so again. I had my bow and my knife if anything troubled me, and Luna was always within earshot. I had to scare off an enterprising rattata once, but other than that I didn't run into anything aggressive.

Luna bounded ahead on the trail, scouting out the path ahead like a natural. Every so often we'd come around a bend and Luna would be sitting there with a smug look. I'd see signs of a struggle, scorch marks on the ground or claw marks on one of the tree trunks. My vulpix would always be sitting there, grooming her tails and acting like nothing had happened.

Curie sat on the top of my hiking bag, tucked into the nest she'd made. She kept reaching up at the tree branches and trying to grab on as we went by. More than once, I felt her tip too far and scrabble for a hold on the lip of the bag.

It was still early spring and the route was still fairly muddy from the snowmelt off Mount Moon. There weren't many other trainers taking the scenic route this early in the season, which . They'd all be ten miles south, travelling along the much larger thoroughfare that followed the coast and skirted the rougher terrain of the mountain itself.

The League maintained the thoroughfare, defending the fortified motorways from aggressive wild pokemon and repairing damage when needed. Trainers tended to cluster along these routes, challenging each other in lieu of the powerful wild pokemon that could be found in the wilds. It made for a hellish gauntlet of battle, one that could help a starting trainer build their record or sink their dream before it had even begun.

I simply couldn't afford to take the risk of losing. With next to no cash left, I'd be wiped out by even a single loss. I just didn't have the time or money to spare. I might have chanced it if I had a sponsor backing me, but without that financial security I didn't dare.

Of course, I'd have probably taken the scenic route anyway. I preferred the solitude of nature and wanted to run Luna up against Mount Moon again anyways. Maybe this time I'd actually take the tunnel, rather than hike over the lowest of the mountain passes like I had on my way to Pewter.

There was one time on the fourth day, where Luna came bounding back with her tails between her legs. She was limping slightly and blood was leaking from a wound on her left flank.

I nearly crapped myself when I saw the violet coloured liquid oozing from the wound. I emptied one of the two antidotes that I'd bought into the wound and wrapped it as best I could with one of the bandages. It had to have been a nidorino judging by the size of the hole. That worried me. A nido wouldn't have been alone.

I pulled my bow out of its travel sock and restrung it, keeping it ready in case I needed it. It wasn't much, but it might scare off a nido scout long enough for me to get away.

Nidos always travelled in packs. They didn't usually come this far east of Pewter though. They preferred the drier plains north and south of Viridian Forest. I hadn't counted on encountering anything like that and briefly considered turning south at the fork in the trail we had passed a mile back.

This was one of the risks of taking the wilderness path. Far away from the League maintained Route, there was a risk of running into stronger wild pokemon. The further out you went, the stronger the pokemon. There were some small exceptions, but novice trainers avoided the heavy wilds for the most part.

I didn't let Luna out of sight after that, and Curie stayed in her ball until we made camp beside a small stream that night. She wouldn't be happy with me for that, but I wasn't taking any chances with a nido pack on the prowl.

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This time, Luna brought me a few spearow while I built the camp. There were more of the leaner birds here on Mount Moon than there were pidgey. We didn't get any visitors that night, so I actually managed to focus on cooking the whole time. I still burnt it to a crisp, but it was at least slightly less dry than my last few attempts.

Luna took one look at the meal and stalked off into the night. She reappeared maybe half an hour later, licking her chops and sprawled herself out in front of the fire. I didn't mind because it meant that I got a halfway decent meal compared to the day before.

I scraped the bones into the fire and plodded over to the stream. I scrubbed my hands off, splashing water on my face as I wiped my mouth off. My shifting reflection gazed back at me from the calm stream, ragged and dirty brown hair falling down into my thin and dirt covered face. My brown eyes were dark in the late evening gloom and shadows obscured my face.

My hair had been short when I left home two months ago, cropped close to my head. Maybe I'd get it cut once I arrived in Cerulean, but for now it was an overgrown tangle. I dunked my whole head in the stream, scrubbing frantically and slicking it back. I came back up, looking at least slightly refreshed even if I was a greasy mess.

My mind wandered back to food as I lay back and watched the stars. My dinner had been enough to keep me going, but my mind couldn't help itself. I dreamt of flame-grilled tauros steaks, sweet yucca casserole, and a tall glass of Saffron-brewed iced lemonade. They taunted me from beyond a line of trees that I couldn't cross.

We woke with the sunrise, same as the days before. I silently packed the camp and doused the embers of my fire with some water from the stream. The smoke billowed out, creating a long grey pillar that slowly rose into the sky.

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Luna woke as I lifted my bag and strapped Curie in. She stretched and yawned as I lifted my oversized hiking bag onto my back. I felt her nestle herself deeper into my pack and knew that she would likely sleep half the morning in her makeshift nest. It was heavy with Curie's added weight, but I didn't mind. It had proven good exercise on the way to Pewter, at least good enough to move me from frail weakling into a somewhat respectable shape.

We were relatively close to the mountain, having made fantastic time the day before. It wasn't long before the gradual rolling hills made way into a rocky path that snaked its way up the mountainside. We'd gotten close enough that you could see where Mount Moon split in three from where an ancient meteor had impacted the earth.

No wild pokemon bothered us that day. We came across a few geodude picking through the loose rocks covering the path, but none of them even bothered to spare us glances. I gave them a wide berth anyways. You never knew when you'd accidentally provoke a wild pokemon. Geodude were known to be temperamental at times, so I wasn't taking any unnecessary chances. I never did need to get my bow out of its sock though, nor did Luna and I need to fight our way through.

After two more such detours around other groups of geodude, we finally began to come up on the view I'd been waiting for. About halfway along the overland path over Mt Moon, there's a narrow corridor through the pass that looks down on both Pewter and Cerulean. I'd made camp there for half a week while Luna and I trained for our battle with Brock. Even though it was barely even mid-day, I fully intended to stop and train for at least the rest of the day if not longer.

Imagine my surprise when I reached the top of the pass and looked down onto a pile of rubble that stretched halfway down the mountain. I swore and looked up at the wall of loose stones in frustration. It was too loose for me to safely climb down and I could still hear the rocks shifting as they settled into place.

"Luna, check it out. See if there's a path I could climb through."

She leapt up atop the rubble and scanned the path ahead. She disappeared for a moment, then looked My vulpix looked back down at me and shook her head.

I sighed. "Double back a bit then. Maybe there's another path through the pass further back."

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She chirped an agreement and disappeared over the barricade of rubble. I caught a glimpse of her a few moments later, leaping deftly up a steep path.

"I don't think I can follow that!" I called up to her.

She gestured back the way we had came and I followed her gaze. There, I saw it. A small outpost carved into the mouth of a tunnel, what looked like a waystation for miners traversing Mount Moon. I could see some rope hanging down to a lower point, maybe I could have used it to climb up.

I cupped my hands over my mouth. "Find me a path up there and we can cut through the tunnel."

Luna disappeared as I began walking back towards the outcrop. I wasn't really in great shape, but a life spent slacking off on the farm was still a relatively healthy lifestyle. I thought I had a decent chance at making it up that rope if I needed to.

Then the ground began to shake and I heard the rumble of rolling thunder storming down the mountain at me.

I looked up, confused by the sound. There wasn't a rain cloud in the sky today, and the ground was dry as a bone.

"Luna!" I boomed over the thunder. I felt the vibration of the sound in my chest and knew that something dangerous was happening. "Get back here!"

Then I saw them. An avalanche of rubble was racing down the mountain towards me, knocked loose by the pair of graveller rolling down the mountain. They were locked in a race, seeing who could get to the bottom of the hill first.

Luna was barely a half-step in front of them. She motored downhill at an impressive speed, keeping her footing like she'd been born in the rocky terrain of Mount Moon rather than the dense forests around Saffron. Even still, gravity would have the pair of graveller outrunning her before long.

Humanity learned long ago what happened when you built towns right at the base of mountains. Some dumb-as-a-rock graveller would decide that it would be fun to use the shiny new town at the bottom of the hill as the finish line for their race.

I returned Curie to her ball as I turned and ran, pointing and shouting for Luna to follow. The avalanche of rubble bore down on the mountain, the thunder growing until the unending storm of stone was right on top of me. I hugged as closely to the wall of the pass as I could, avoiding a rock the size of a pokeball as it smashed into the ground beside me.

Luna hit the ground beside me, dashing ahead as the first of the graveller thundered by. A torrent of stones poured over the cliff from above, shaking me to my bones as they landed at my heels. One of them glanced off my side and split when it hit the ground, landing heavily mere inches away from me.

I saw the opening in the pass wall and made my decision. I was never going to outrun an avalanche of stone, and I knew that the tunnel network under Mount Moon was one of the most extensive in the world. Half of the mountain was hollow, dug out by miners in the ages past. It was our only chance out of this mess.

I dove for the cave opening just as the rest of the deluge crashed down and blocked the opening. I felt and heard the second graveller roll past us and watched as the rocks pouring into the cave opening shifted with the second avalanche of stones.

For a brief moment, a crack of light shone through the blocked cave entrance. Then what sounded like half the mountain rumbled past and Luna and I were plunged into complete darkness.

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Thank goodness that I was as prepared as I was. I hadn't really intended for travel underground, but I had trained Luna to control her wisps well enough that we could use them for light. The blue ball of ghost fire levitated behind us, casting the cave in cold blue light. Even if it wasn't a warm, safe light, it was still fending off the dark.

Food however, would an issue even if it wasn't an immediate one. I only had three emergency rations, and nothing specific for Luna to eat. I had intended to have her hunt most of our food, but underground that wouldn't be an option. Theoretically I could scavenge some of the mushrooms that I might find, but I didn't trust my knowledge of edible fungi enough to risk it.

My bow had been smashed inside of its sock. The carefully carved and treated wood was splintered and cracked, a large divot driven into the wood. I thought back, vaguely remembering the impact on my side. It must have hit my bow and snapped it. I cursed silently, mourning the loss of something so vital in such a careless way.

Curie could remain in her ball until we were safe, but I couldn't keep her in there forever. We had to move quickly and get back above ground at the first possible point. I trusted that the tunnel network was extensive enough to get us back above ground relatively soon.

So that's what we did. I pointed us eastwards with my compass and kept us moving slowly towards Cerulean, knowing that eventually I'd find a tunnel that led back up to the surface or at the very least one of the larger tunnels that the Takeshi mining company maintained. At least there, I'd have some light and probably a better sense of direction.

Luna and I wandered for what seemed like hours. It probably was hours. I couldn't tell. With no light other than the wisp at my shoulder and no clock to speak of, I had no idea how much time had passed.

Wild zubat harried us more and more often as we moved deeper into the caves. Luna dispatched them all with ease, though I was worried that she'd run out of stamina before the cave ran out of zubat. I found myself desperately wishing that I had a second battle capable pokemon but Luna met every challenge with gusto. Even still, she had limits. I kept her from instigating battles, but it still felt like we were fighting off a new group of zubat every few minutes.

Exhaustion was setting in and we were starting to make mistakes. My eyes fooled me more than once when reading the compass. We'd have to double back every now and then, erasing my idiotic mistakes at the cost of precious time. Then there were the dead ends that compounded my mistakes. At one point, the tunnel we had been following for over an hour simply narrowed until I couldn't go any further. I sent Luna ahead to see if it led anywhere, but she returned less than a minute later. It was simply a dead end.

Finally, after having burned through my second emergency ration on what felt like the second day underground, I heard a voice. It wasn't one of the far-off echoes that I'd thought I'd heard, it was a real human voice. I forged on, ignoring the aching pain in my ankles and the exhaustion in my bones.

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I stepped into a cavern that stretched nearly fifty feet across. A thin beam of moonlight shone down from a crack in the cave roof, illuminating a rough, pockmarked stone in the centre of the cavern.

I glanced back at Luna. "More light," I ordered.

I felt a pit in my stomach as the . Scat and bones lined the cavern floor like some macabre carpet. All around me were signs of pokemon, warning signs that I was standing somewhere I absolutely shouldn't be.

I glanced down at Luna, confirming my fears. Her ears were flat against the sides of her head and her tails flicked back and forth aggressively. She knew this was not a welcoming place.

I swept my gaze across the cave wall, searching for another exit. It was covered in little alcoves and small passageways. Whatever this place was, I didn't want to stay for long. If it had Luna spooked the I sure as hell didn't want any part of whatever called this place home.

Then I heard it. The same voice as before, chanting and singing. A dozen more voices joined it, adding to the eerie chorus.

Light began to glow from the tunnel Luna and I had come from. We turned to run and I stopped dead in my tracks. A second cave mouth was glowing, the chanting voices growing louder and stronger with every second.

Luna growled and I returned her to her ball unceremoniously. She was brave, but this was not a situation we could fight our way out of. I crammed myself into one of the alcoves on the cave wall. The wisp of blue light disappeared and I pressed myself into the cave wall as far as I could go, praying that I was damn near invisible.

They came by the dozens, little pink creatures still chanting in some strange arcane language. I shrunk back as I fearfully realized what I was watching.

There are some theories about the origins of the clefairy of Mount Moon on the fringes of the scientific community. They're mostly the work of conspiracy theorists and online whack jobs, but unlike most other theories this one had at least a few major supporters, Professor Samuel Oak chief among them.

Clefairy are rare. So rare that Mount Moon houses the only known population. So when people suggested that these strange pink creatures could have originated somewhere other than earth, it made at least a little sense. Watching them dance and worship a meteorite, I couldn't decide if the whack jobs were right or if the clefairy were just nuts.

The meteorite seemed to respond to the strange ritual around it. It lit up like some kind of messed up beacon, filling the cavern with blinding light. I covered my eyes and shrank back into the alcove as deeply as I could.

The light faded and I cautiously uncovered my eyes. I could still see spots, misshapen figures dancing around the edge of my vision. I rubbed my eyes and prayed that they were telling me lies.

The clefable twirled and sang, clearly overjoyed by the evolution. I shrunk back in fear, I knew the reputation of the fae was a false one. They were not the simple, happy creatures that weekend cartoons painted them as. Fairies were cruel, sadistic and capable of intelligent thought. They wouldn't hesitate to punish the dumb little human for accidentally stumbling into their den.

I didn't dare to move a muscle. My only hope was that the psychotic little monsters didn't notice my presence.

Something touched the back of my neck. I nearly leapt to my feet screaming, but the threat of certain death stopped me. I shimmied, trying to peek over my shoulder to see what it was. I heard a panicked squeak and felt something crawl down the back of my jacket.

That did it for me. I clamped my hand over my mouth, stifling a scream of terror that nearly gave me away. I fought with everything I could to remain motionless, ignoring every instinct in my body to run screaming from whatever creepy crawly had taken refuge in my clothes.

The squirming lump struggled around my torso, crawling over onto my stomach and digging into my body with too many sharp points. It was a bug of some kind and my mind leapt to fearful conclusions. I swatted at the lump, trying to shoo the pokemon away without drawing the attention of the murderous fairies.

The lump seemed to turn around. It oriented itself towards my head and began inching up my chest. I could do nothing but watch in terrified silence as the little lump slowly crawled towards my head.

My jacket parted as a pair of claws worked the zipper open. A small set of beady black eyes looked up at me with the same fear I was feeling. Then it sneezed a cocktail of spores directly into my face.

I tried to get to my feet, crawl away, do anything at all but my legs refused to move. I felt my eyes grow heavy and shut. Then I felt nothing at all.

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I sucked in a breath of cold, damp air and choked on the saliva pooling in my mouth. I rolled out of the alcove and sat up, hacking my lungs out into the darkness.

The fairies were gone, something that probably saved my life. I heard legs skittering away and shrieked as I felt the pool of sticky warm liquid under my hand.

I felt the pain as my senses slowly came back to me. I coughed madly, hacking up a congealed paste of spores that gagged me as I spat it out. My head was spinning and pain throbbed with every heartbeat. I felt at my aching ear and pulled my hand away in horror. Blood covered my hand, more of the sticky red caking my neck.

I stared dumbfounded at my bloody hand, looking back down at the pool of blood behind me. "My ear." I said dumbly. "It ate my ear."

I rolled away from the alcove and got to my feet, dumbly looking around the cavern. It was bright, with a ray of sunshine beaming in through the crack in the mountainside. The paras chattered at me from behind, bringing me back to the present, and my hand dropped to my belt.

Luna was out in a flash of light. She growled instinctively as I mumbled a string of garbled words. The smell of my blood was thick in the air and she could tell that something was very wrong. My vulpix lunged forward, tearing into the little bug with reckless abandon. All my little girl knew was that I was hurt and that the paras was responsible.

I didn't wait for her to finish eviscerating the paras. I steadied myself on the meteorite in the centre of the room, dropping my pack heavily to the floor. It landed in pokemon scat and shattered bones, but at that moment I could have cared less. I poured half my remaining water over my ear, washing away the freshest of the blood but doing nothing for the caked and dried mud and blood running down my neck.

I pulled out my bandage and carefully wrapped my head. It wouldn't do much, but I hoped it would hold until I could reach Cerulean. I tipped back my water bottle and drained the rest in two long gulps. My empty stomach protested as I eagerly drank my water and I glanced down at my last ration.

I couldn't resist. I tore open the packaging, devouring half the ration in moments. I offered Luna the dried tauros jerky and she reluctantly gulped down the remnants of my ration.

I dug back into my bag and pulled out my compass and. I glanced down at the compass and oriented us eastwards. The other tunnel into the cavern led off to the southeast, sloping slightly down as it went.

"Only one choice," I said. "Not enough supplies to go back."

Luna nodded and trotted towards the tunnel. I smiled and lifted my pack onto my back. At least my starter had confidence enough for both of us.

The tunnel narrowed considerably as we continued down it. All over the walls and ceiling there were little holes and alcoves like the one I had hidden in. I didn't spot any more paras, but I gave them all as wide a berth as I could. The last thing I needed was another face full of spores when I was weak and extremely low on supplies.

We didn't run into a single pokemon down that tunnel. I found that eerie, though I didn't dwell on it. I didn't have the energy.

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I didn't even see the dead end coming in the dimming light of Luna's wisp. Walked right into the cave wall and smacked my face off the smooth stone. I stepped back, looking at the wall dumbfounded.

"Where the hell do I go then?" I asked to nobody in particular. I glanced around the tunnel and closed my eyes in frustration. It was a dead end. There had been no forks in the tunnel. It just simply ran into a dead end. "Where the hell do I go!" I shouted.

"Hello?" Asked a muffled voice.

I nearly fell over in shock. "Hello?" I half shouted, not sure if my sleep deprived mind was playing tricks on me. "Is someone there? I'm stuck at a dead end and I have no food or water left. Please help me!"

I heard a scratching at the wall of the tunnel and banged my fists against the spot.

"I think you're behind the wall," the voice said. "Step back and whatever you do, don't freak out. Domitian doesn't really like that."

I opened my mouth to ask who or what Domitian was. The wall of the cave shook and I realized that I didn't really care. I stepped back from the end of the tunnel as a grey skinned arm blasted through the stone. Impossibly powerful muscles tore through the tunnel wall with ease. They ripped away at the stone and cleared more space. A second arm appeared, forcing the opening larger, then a third, then a fourth.

The machamp forced its way into the tunnel with a grunt. It turned its head to look at me with a happy grumble. Luna growled at him, her tails flaring and her hair standing on end. I returned her to her ball before she could start a battle that she had no hope of winning.

"Domitian, let him out," said the voice. It was a woman's voice, a smile in her tone.

The machamp nodded and lumbered back out of the hole he had made. I stepped through the hole and into the light. I heard the woman gasp as I blocked the sun out with my arm.

"You look like hell, honey."

I brushed my fingers against the patchwork of scratches on the left side of my face. "Paras got me," I responded. "Think he got some of my ear," I added as I gingerly poked at the exposed skin.

I looked at her as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight. She was pretty, in a rugged sort of way. Her brown hair was up in a messy bun and her face was covered in a network of fading scars. She was older than I was, likely a veteran trainer if her gear was any indication.

"You're lucky it was only a paras. One of the big ones wouldn't have left enough for you to walk away." She peered at my wrapping and gently poked at the bloody bandage. "Name's Gemma. Mind if I take a look at that?"

I was too tired to protest, simply grunting in pain when she peeled the bandage away and began to rewrap it with a fresh bandage from her own pack.

She whistled appreciatively. "Gonna leave a hell of a scar, kid. I'm almost jealous."

I raised my eyebrow. "Jealous?" I asked.

She smirked knowingly. "Hell of a way to get your first real training scar." She lifted up her shirt, showing me the faint trio of lines that ran across her stomach. "Got my first one from a persian that thought I was an easy meal. Domitian got it though, back when he was still just a machop!"

I raised my eyebrow. "Do you expose yourself to every trainer you meet?"

"Just the handsome ones," she said with a wink. She looked down at my bag and grinned at my ragged state. My clothes were caked in scat and dried blood and I had an exhausted scowl on my face. "Where you headed, novice?"

"Cerulean," I started.

She raised a ball and returned her machamp. "It's the opposite way I was heading, but I'm not due for a few days. I can give you a lift to Cerulean. That cut could use some proper attention before it gets infected." She smirked again and I felt a twinge of annoyance at her cheery demeanour. "You seem like you're entertaining too, to say the least." She glanced up at my bandaged head. "Who gets themselves snacked on by a paras and lives to tell the tale?"

I didn't protest the help. I was bone tired, my stomach was burning and my head was pounding. I'd be dead if it weren't for Gemma.

She raised another ball and shot me a look. "Lilith is a little skittish, so just don't make any sudden movements and she won't peck your eyes out." She narrowed her eyes and seemed unsure of herself for a moment. "Probably," she added suddenly.

My eyes widened. "That's not very-"

She tapped the release on the ball before I could even finish. Lilith stretched her neck up to the sky and unfurled her wings. She stretched, enjoying the evening sun on her feathers. Then she saw me.

I froze. She froze. Gemma froze. Then the fearow screeched and I felt my stomach drop. I saw my life flash before my eyes as the fearow lunged with a beak that could skewer me in a flash.

Gemma was faster though. Somehow, she got an arm around Lilith's neck and stopped her from killing me. She pulled her fearow down to the ground, petting the murderous pokemon's neck all while she struggled to impale me with a three foot-long beak.

I stepped back, heart pounding and eyes wide. "I'm supposed to ride that?" I asked incredulously.

"Hey," Gemma started. "It's that or have her carry you."

I took one look at Lilith's wicked talons and instantly made up my mind. "On second thought, I'm fine with riding."

Gemma shot me a devious smile and released her chokehold on her murderous fearow. She straightened out and dusted herself off. "Best get on our way then. The light's dying and Lilith here gets real ornery at night."

I looked up at Lilith in fear as the fearow eyeballed me murderously. If this was her calm, then I really didn't want to know what ornery was. Unfortunately for me, I had a sinking feeling that I was sure to find out.

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The tall man stood over the shorter man's desk, a grim scowl borne on his face.

"It's never a good thing when you come visit my lab," said the short man. "What did Blaine have to say?"

"He refused our latest proposal, as was expected. He called it daring fate."

"Then perhaps he is compromised, as I suggested. Surge could have gotten through to him."

"I doubt that," he replied. "his distaste for the Ranger outweighs his sense of duty." The tall man took a seat opposite the shorter man. "He is an unknown, whatever the case. What do you suggest now?"

"That we simply allow events to unfold. We have spent years setting the board and rigging the game for this moment." He shook his head. "The boys have departed for their journey. We can influence the board no longer. It is simply time to gather our strength and wait. Our time will come."

The tall man scowled. "I detest waiting."

"As do I," came the short man's reply. "However, our captive was clear enough and Lance has not cleared further direct action. The gods have begun to stir in their sleep. The timeline still matches up with what he knows and yet we have no counter for destruction."

The tall man contemplated for a moment. "I wish to speak with him again."

"Impossible," replied the shorter man. "he is lost to us, unless Lance deems it necessary." He scowled. "The champion's paranoia knows no bounds as of late."

"Then I shall petition him," the tall man said. "We require more information, more insight. Lance has never refused me yet."

The shorter man smirked. "That man is mad," he said. "lost in the universe and lost in himself. He will provide clear insight no more than Lance will allow us to speak with him."

The tall man scowled. "Then we must wait," he said. "Or I must move against Lance myself and retrieve him."

"We wait," the short man confirmed. "No sense in rash action yet."

The tall man's scowl deepened. "Even a rash action is better than no action at all, old friend."

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Pokédex Entry # 46: Paras

Paras are most commonly found on the foothills of Mount Moon as well as under the mountain itself. Some reports of unique colonies of the species across the Orange Islands have been reported, raising questions as to how this landlocked pokemon managed to cross an ocean.

Paras are small, segmented insects. They have three pairs of legs, with the forelegs possessing a set of rather sharp claws. Paras are not traditionally dangerous, though trainers should take caution not to become trapped in close quarters with them. The small mushrooms on the backs of the paras secrete spores that can induce sleep or paralysis in large doses.

Paras and parasect spores have a multitude of medical uses and have become a staple among Kanto farmers for the many uses of their spores. The species' timid nature and lack of aggression has made the domestication process surprisingly smooth.

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Novice Trainer, KT#07996101, Marcus Wright, Current Roster

Luna, Vulpix

Curie, Happiny