Chapter 7

Red cornered the round, pink Pokemon that was featureless other than a swirl of hair and ears. It had been damaged by a few scratch attacks until blood had been drawn so it was weakened enough to be captured. However, just as Red hucked the Pokeball at it, the Jigglypuff inhaled air and literally ballooned in size. And just like a balloon, after swelling, it floated into the air with the Pokeball missing. Red, along with Leta and Cinder ran after the Pokemon before it blew past their sight over the mountain cliff.

"Darn it!" Red shouted. "That was the third time! Well...at least it didn't put us to sleep again...lost a whole day from that alone."

"Couldn't you go catch it, Leta?" Cinder asked. "After all, you can fly?"

The Butterfree's wings drooped a little from her low position on the ground.

"I-I can't," she said. "We Butterfree...we can't fly that far if we're too sad. And I can't forget my two friends I lost that quickly…"

The Nidoran appeared from the side, not running but lazily sauntering toward them.

"Well," he said. "What's so great about that pink thing?"

"What's so great is that it's rare and not much data is recorded about it," Red said. "I could have given it to Professor Oak and he would have given me money for it."

The Nidoran shook his head.

"I can't believe you humans have to rely on money to solve all your problems," he said. "Beings of true power would just take what they want without question."

"And that's why we have civilization and you do not," Red retorted. "Insignificant little rodents like you don't have what it takes to build what we humans can."

"Red," Cinder said as he looked up at his trainer. "Please…"

The Poison Pin Pokemon glared at Red, looking like he was about to charge him. Red looked around, noticing the sky was growing orange as the day was growing short. He marched forward into the grass that was taller in the valley.

"Come on," he said. "We need to be getting to Mount Moon."

"Where's that?" Leta asked as the three of them neared their trainer.

"A mountainous pass with a cave that will allow us to enter Cerulean City," he said. "After we go through there, we can then get ready for our next gym battle."

The Nidoran rolled his eyes.

"I wonder which of us is going to die next time," he said. "If I'm lucky it might be me."

"Keep talking that way and you can guarantee it, rodent," Red said.

He turned away from the sheer cliff the Jigglypuff floated past and marched further into the valley. The grass lengthened as they walked through the valley. Red kept looking up at the cliffs overhead, careful that they weren't being spied on. He observed Pidgey, Spearow and Rattata scurrying or flying near the edge but they didn't attack or even care for them. Leta and Nidoran seemed to notice as well.

"They don't seem hostile," the Nidoran said. "Like they're ignoring us."

"Quite friendly, actually," Leta said. "Maybe they're just really nice!"

"Or know we're not worth it," Red said. "Remember the trainers who we battled during the few days we spent here?"

"Yeah," the Nidoran said. "They were pretty easy to beat."

"Their literal job is to attack wild Pokemon that could potentially harm people," Red said. "They're hired by gyms to instill fear of humans in the native Pokemon. Seems it worked out in this case."

"So much for you humans being civilized," the Nidoran mocked.

Without needing to worry about wild encounters they continued through the valley relatively calmly. That changed as they reached the end of the valley where a large cave appeared in between the sides of the slopes. Craters appeared around the cave to give the impression that something had crashed into the land to strip the ground bare of grass.

"Didn't Brock say Team Rocket appeared here?" Cinder asked. "Red...maybe we should…"

"We'll avoid them if we see them," he said. "The sooner we get to Cerulean City the better as the wild Pokemon in this area are fairly limited."

"What is this Team Rocket?" Leta asked.

"An organization of evil thugs," the Charmander replied. "A criminal enterprise that exhorts and kills people for profit."

"Not any different than Pokemon in the wild are," the Nidoran said. "Or humans. Red just got done throwing away two Pokemon's lives for the sake of bloodsport."

"That was just a test we use to see if certain Pokemon are strong enough to be used to defend others!" Red yelled. "Sometimes things go wrong and Pokemon die. Gym battles are nothing like the Rockets!"

Stolen story; please report.

"You sound a little defensive," the Nidoran said.

Leta hovered over Red's shoulder.

"Don't worry," the Butterfree said. "I'll protect us. They won't want to get near if I douse them with some Sleep Powder!"

The trainer sighed, secretly feeling anxious. Honestly he was terrified of facing the Rockets. They weren't like the run of the mill local trainers you could have a casual battle with to practice or test strength. No, Rocket trainers were stronger than average trainers as they usually went through harsh training.

They only used Pokemon that proved to be strong in battle and sold any Pokemon that wasn't immediately valuable to them. Red didn't mind the latter part but they would go so far as to kill trainers and steal their Pokemon as well as take over entire routes and businesses to secure their financial holdings. If Red met any Rockets he was entirely sure he'd fall to pieces at the sight of them.

But going home without all eight gym badges, or even none at all, scares me even more. He thought. The children of Pallet Town's jeering laughs, their pointing, their scolding of my weaknesses...that haunts my dreams more than death itself.

He took in a deep breath and stepped into the cave. Immediately his surroundings were darkened as he went further in. There was little light other than Cinder's tail flame to see about fifteen feet past around them. Red made sure he was walking in the shallow rut laid out in front of them that went straight before taking a right turn. As Leta flew level with Red's shoulder, the mild wind she kicked up brushing his brown hair to the left. As they ventured further in, Red could hear the flapping and screeching of creatures overhead.

Zubats. He thought with a bead of sweat forming over him. Ugly little things can suck your blood.

"How do we know we're going the right way?" Leta asked. "It's so dark…"

"Yeah," the Nidoran said. "There's not enough light and I can't distinguish one place in this cave from another."

"You see this rut?" Red said. He pointed in front of him. "It's been carved out for humans to traverse. It leads the way to Cerulean City."

"But is it even safe?" Cinder asked. "This cave is too dark to make out any enemy Pokemon that may attack. Being attacked in a cave is far different than outside since it's more dangerous to those who just stumble in."

"That's why there are local trainers out and about," Red said. "Trainers are paid to drive out the wild Pokemon even in caves and forests so Pokemon generally avoid humans. They associate humans with fear of being attacked."

After walking further and further down the down, Red could see the shallow path ending in a hole in the stony ground in Cinder's tail flame. Upon closer inspection, he could make out a ladder that vertically descended straight down that had been built into the stone. The trainer sighed in relief before finding blood splattered around the hole.

"Huh," Red said. "Definitely the next step to getting out of this place but...this blood looks human...and rather fresh."

"Probably a predator caught something," Nidoran remarked. "A lot of blood is red, not just humans."

Red approached the hole with the ladder in it before catching something out of the corner of his eye. At the rightmost edge of the illumination cast from Cinder was a red, crab Pokemon scurrying, part of its body covered by shadow. When Red noticed that on one side of its body it bore a red mushroom with yellow spots that grew from its back. He couldn't believe his luck.

A Paras. He thought. It's one of the Pokemon Oak doesn't own. It's rare as it only lives in damp caves and otherwise very dark and moist places. Probably will mean big bucks and I bet Blue hasn't gotten his hands on one yet.

Red took his backpack off before reaching into it to take out a Pokeball.

This'll be an easy catch since Leta can use status to immobilize it without potentially killing it. He thought. All I have to do is-

Just as he was going to issue a command to Leta, a loud groaning could be heard from the left. Red and his three Pokemon turned to the source of the noise to find it wasn't at all visible. He held his Pokeball to the side as the loud groan continued, apparently a human in pain or equal amount of distress.

"Is that a human?" Cinder asked.

"Sounds like it," Leta said. "They sound like they're having a pretty bad time."

Cinder turned around to look up at Red, his face full of indignation.

"We need to help them!" the Lizard Pokemon said. "They could be being attacked by Team Rocket or even a wild Pokemon!"

Red glanced back at the Paras, noticing that it was continuing to scurry away. If he didn't act fast, he would definitely miss his chance of catching it. He ground his teeth, unsure of what to do.

"Come on!" Cinder yelled. "We may not have much time! Don't you think we're probably the only chance they have to make it out alive?! I mean, who else is going to help them out?!"

"Are you sure we should go over there?" Leta asked. "It's pretty dark...and there's no path leading us there. I know it's good to help others but...I'm just too afraid of this dark, dark place."

"No!" the Nidoran yelled. "Don't do it!"

Red looked down, shocked at her callousness.

"We need to get out of this place as soon as possible!" she said. "Didn't you say that it was dangerous here because of Team Rocket?! If we go over there we could potentially get ourselves killed! Hurry down there!"

"You mocked Red for putting our lives in danger," Cinder said. "But you won't stick your neck out for anyone but yourself."

"Red tossed out Klecer and the Water-type for a battle with only his ego at stake," the Nidoran argued. "Here, in the reality of the wild, I'm only being pragmatic about what helps us make it out of here alive."

Red tensed up, his eyes still drawn to the Paras near him.

I haven't caught a single Pokemon for Oak yet. He thought. I was too focused on training my Pokemon. He might take my funding...but if a human is in trouble…

Red thought back to Pallet Town's kids. If he was thrown or tossed to the side they wouldn't have helped him. He would be looked at as if he was a parasite to the community. In the world, you were often looked at as worthless if you were not a powerful trainer as the regions around the globe needed them to defend civilian lives. If Red turned his back on that person he would be just as bad as them. He put the Pokeball back into his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder.

"Let's go help this poor guy," he said.

"What?!" the Nidoran said.

"Yeah!" Leta said as she did a midair somersault. "You're braver than I am! So inspirational!"

Cinder looked up at him with a grateful expression and a nod, a gesture that made Red's heart almost melt.

"You want to play hero now of all times?!" the Nidoran said. "After you abused us-"

"Let's hurry," Red said. "Leta, douse the trail we leave with just a little Sleep Powder so we can find our way back. Stay close in case you get attacked."

The trainer hurried forward with his Pokemon following close by, his Nidoran going at a much slower pace as he was still pretty reluctant. They had to leave the trail behind, a fact that scared them but Red felt relieved as his Butterfree let some sea green pollen-like substance fall to the ground behind her as she flew. The powder would allow them to retrace their steps back to the ladder hole.

However, Sleep Powder wasn't the only trail there was. Red noticed he began stepping in pools of blood that practically muddied his shoes in red. Following the groaning, they could eventually make out the source. Laying on the floor of the cave was a familiar dark skinned man with short, jet black hair. He was holding his side in pain as he bled profusely from it. When he saw Red standing over him, Brock smiled through the pain.

"I guess I like the fact you ignored my advice," he said.