Chapter 10

Cinder's body had grown so heavy that Red couldn't hold him anymore. He tried throwing the Fire-type to the side but with his increased strength, he merely lunged forward. Red looked down to see that Cinder had grown taller, his claws had elongated and now he had a horn growing from the back of his head. The Machoke looked down in surprise at the newly evolved Pokemon.

Did...did Cinder evolve? Red wondered.

The Fire-type Pokemon opened his mouth to fire an Ember that was half his body length at the Fighting-type. The Machoke attempted to swat the ball of flame away like it had last time but this time his hand was engulfed in red flames. It screamed in pain.

Yes...yes he's no longer a Charmander! He thought. He's a Charmeleon!

The Machoke, now enraged, flung himself at the newly evolved Pokemon. However, the Charmeleon opened its slightly hooked snout wide open to fire a blast fire so bright and hot it lit up the entire cave for an instant. The Machoke was hit squarely in the chest as the front of his body caught fire before falling over. This gave Cinder the opportunity to stand over the Fighting-type and start blasting more fire onto his head.

Flamethrower?! Red thought. I tried to teach that move to him but Cinder could never get it to work...he must have learned it upon evolving!

After enough fire was breathed onto the enemy Pokemon, the Machoke was little more than a burnt husk. Red breathed a sigh of relief before hearing chuckling from above. He looked up to see two Pokemon floating forward, a Koffing and its evolved form, Weezing.

"Heh-heh," the Koffing said. "Looks like old Buster didn't have enough in him to kill the little pipsqueak."

"Yeah," the Weezing said. "We'll drown him in Sludge like that Bug thing!"

"Hey!" the Koffing addressed Cinder. "Did your little winged friend die?! Cause-"

Cinder didn't even let him finish his sentence. A Flamethrower fired at him caused the Koffing to explode, hot debris falling all over the place. The Weezing's arrogant expression became one of horror before the Fire attack hit him, causing another explosion. With no more enemy Pokemon, Red ran toward the location where he dropped his then-Charmander's Pokeball and placed it back on his waist. As Cinder tried to breathe a sigh of, Red ran up to his Pokemon and held him in his arms.

"Oh, Cinder!" Red said. "That was incredible! You-you really pulled through!"

The Charmeleon hugged him back.

"Don't ever think you're not worth living," he said. "Because, no matter what others may think of you...I know you're a good person on the inside."

"What happened?" Red asked after letting go of him. "What...what caused you to evolve?"

"You," he answered. "I felt something leave you and...arrive within me. I can't describe it but...it was definitely something that came from you rather than me."

"Well…" he shrugged. "It was weird but...whatever helps...you know?"

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Red sighed before turning to the battlefield. To his relief, the battle was over. The entirety of the Rockets' forces were either dead or entrapped by Rock Tomb. Red looked over to see that Brock was messing with the trans/jam machines before walking over the corpses to arrive near the gym leader.

"Hey," Red said. "I see...I see we won."

The gym leader gave him a huge grin.

"Kid," he said. "I don't say this often...but I couldn't have done it without you."

A warmth spread across the young man's body that couldn't be expressed in words. Happiness seemed to almost lift him off his feet and Red couldn't stand still. His entire being felt satisfied in that moment.

"And…" Brock said. "To be fair...you also helped me more than I could imagine."

"How is that?" Red asked.

"The trans/jam machines usually are deleted of their communication transmissions loggings before we can get to them," Brock said. "However, on rare occasions, we can get a hold of them before the Rockets delete them. This is one of those times and it's given me some key information that will shock the entire nation of Kanto."

"What's that?" Red asked.

"From this very cave," Brock said. "Team Rocket has been sending communications to some unspecified location within Viridian City."

His eyes widened at his words and Red shook his head.

"That's impossible!" Red shouted. "Viridian City is known as a haven from crime! I've never heard of a report of Team Rocket anywhere near there!"

"That's why the Kanto government needs information on this," he said. "Because, according to this very trans/jam machine, it was the city they were communicating back and forth with the most."

"That's insane," Red said.

"But very valuable," Brock said.

"Great!" Cinder said. "Now we can free those Geodude!"

Brock's relieved expression froze before becoming frustrated. Red froze as well. His body quivered in fright.

"What?" Brock asked.

"Yeah!" Cinder said. "Now that we've beaten them we can turn the machines off and get these Geodude some medical attention! And free the Electric-types powering the machines as well!"

Just before Brock could say anything, Red took Cinder's Pokeball from his waist and returned him to it. The gym leader looked down at Red with an intense glare. The trainer's formerly happy mood was now beginning to sour.

"So did you arrive here with the intent of releasing the Geodude and Electric-types?" Brock asked.

"No sir!" Red cried. "No-no! Not at all!"

"Because that's what it sounds like," the gym leader said.

"No-no-no!" the trainer cried. "You see...my Charmeleon, he...he doesn't know that...that Rock Pokemon are harvested for minerals that can only be found inside them. He's...we've never been any further from Viridian City or Pallet Town so...he doesn't know as much as I do."

"I hope not," Brock said. "Because interfering with Pokemon extraction is punishable by a minimum of twenty years. You can be issued the death penalty for it."

Red nodded.

"I know, sir," he said.

"I would hope you wouldn't spoil such an occasion with reckless law breaking," Brock said. "Now...when we arrived I saw something here that interested me. Follow me."

He gestured and Red followed the gym leader. They arrived at the edge of the encampment the Rockets had made on the cave floor where sleeping bags and food was before arriving upon metal containers. Red walked forward to find that inside the boxes were various stony items.

There were shiny black rocks in the boxes as well as fossils. Brock picked up one of the fossils. Red picked up one of the black stones that gleamed in the light of the overhanging light bulbs.

"That's a Moon Stone," Brock commented. "And these are old fossils of extinct Pokemon."

"Really?" Red asked. "This stone can help Hurzer evolve once it becomes a Nidorino!"

"Yes," Brock said. "It seems Team Rocket wasn't only interested in Mt. Moon for the Pokemon ore but Moon Stones and fossils that they could sell to make a profit. Both are very rare, meaning this was definitely a locale the Rockets were keen on protecting. Red, as a reward I'm going to allow you to take some of this."

"Really?" he asked.

"You deserve it," Brock said. "The Moon Stones for your Nidoran's evolution and fossils to sell for a high price. Or you can send it to the Cinnabar Lab or Pewter City Museum to revive them into Pokemon."

"Gee thanks!" Red said. "Professor Oak will really love this!"