Ash's eyes slowly fluttered open, greeted with the sight of the ceiling above him.
He found himself groaning momentarily as he sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to subdue the drowsiness. Once he was woken up a bit more, he took in his surroundings as he made his way out of the bed, bare feet pressing down against the carpet floor.
Pikachu was asleep on his bed, curled up into a ball and peacefully snoozing, light, cute noises let out as he breathed. Valiant was laying down on a pillow besides the bed, still asleep, with Eevee sleeping on her own pillow on the other side of the bed.
Looking over to Nebula, she was in the windowsill, and Ash could see her beginning to wake. After he approached her, the two exchanging quick greetings with one another as he patted her head, Ash's eyes made their way to the digital clock that sat beside the television on the large counter.
'7:00 AM.' he thought to himself. A very early rise, but on an appropriate day to do so.
Yesterday had been their battle against Gary, the day prior being the day that Eevee had joined the team. Today, they were planning on going through Mt. Moon once they were all filled up on breakfast.
Also on the counter was the Pokemon Egg that Elacia had given to them, wrapped in a blanket to be kept warm.
Ash was caught off guard a bit as another yawn escaped his mouth. He was still tired, but he'd fully wake up soon. Sparing one last glance at the Egg, he made his way into the bathroom for a quick morning shower.
/
The cafeteria was fairly bare this morning, most of the trainers likely not awake yet. Ash and his team found barely anybody in the large room as they made their way in. Curiously, he looked around to see if Misty was anywhere.
Despite their awkward start the previous morning, the orange haired girl had notably warmed up to him a bit during their snack together, enough for them to continue talking for about another hour or so even after they were finished eating.
Misty, despite her first impression, was fairly pleasant to be around when she was in a good mood. She was definitely more outgoing than him, usually the one on the proactive side of their conversations, and carried herself in a very bold manner. Her enthusiasm was a bit different from Emily, who was more goofy by comparison, or Janine, who was a bit more sophisticated and proper to go along with her kindness. Misty's aura was a bit more intimidating, although not unbearably so when she was happy. Her more cheerful side felt forward, even somewhat aggressive despite her not being upset. Although her more energetic behavior and manner of speaking took some getting used to, occasionally making him feel a bit nervous, he had grown to like her a good bit. It was a bit weird that his overall opinion of her was somewhat dissonant from how her behavior sometimes made him inwardly react, Ash supposed he was just happy to make another friend.
She certainly wasn't bad despite her more intimidating, hot blooded personality. He had a feeling that she had a temper on her, based on their first meeting, but she definitely wasn't malicious or condescending like… well, Gary.
According to her, she had come from Cerulean City, where he was currently headed right now. Although the city was a known hotspot for rookie Pokemon trainers, Misty had feared that it would be a bit too rookie friendly, making the choice to use the teleport system (which was apparently available in all cities this Season) in order to go elsewhere for just a bit of extra challenge. Although she had chosen Viridian, she also voiced regret towards picking that specific location. When Ash had asked why, she had shivered uncomfortably and said "too many bugs."
She had also revealed to him that she hoped to become a water type specialist, expressing a great deal of fondness for the aquatic side of Pokemon.
Ash supposed that it didn't surprise him too much. A lot of expert trainers specialized in a specific typing, usually favoring it and occasionally even going so far as to use it exclusively. The major benefits of focusing on such a team included making it particularly easy for them to practice together, as well as learning the in depth details of the specific typing more easily, due to having various different Pokemon who fell under it, and potentially utilized it in very different ways. It made it especially easier to learn how to cover up the weaknesses of the typing, therefore almost completely negating the major disadvantage of specialization: being countered more easily by certain types.
It was a very common practice among elite level trainers, with the majority of Elite Four members, Gym Leaders, and even Champions throughout history all specializing in either one type, or perhaps two or three that meshed together well. Champion Lance was an interesting example, as he was a dragon specialist, but rather than favoring dragon types specifically, he focused on Pokemon in the dragon egg group, many of which were still dragon types, but many of which also were not. The biological similarities were definitely present among his team, however. He was an example of a type specialist who had a preference for a specific typing, but didn't completely favor it outright. In fact, only about half of his usual signature Pokemon were dragon types, if Ash recalled correctly, and one of his three greatest and most well-known team members was a Charizard, who wasn't a dragon type at all.
That wasn't to say that trainers who chose not to specialize in any specific types of Pokemon were uncommon, however, as there were still plenty with no real specialization. Often, not even a preference. Currently reigning Champion Cynthia of Sinnoh was a particular standout example. Only the third Champion throughout that particular League's long history (which matched Indigo's own) to not have a specialty, or even at least a preference.
Despite seeing the obvious appeal of type specialization, Ash wasn't sure if he himself would ever end up practicing it. Right now he was just focused on building a strong team in general, and had no such preferences to speak of at the moment.
But it was certainly a common practice, so Misty's stance definitely made sense. Although, he was still somewhat surprised that she was already focusing on it so early. Most trainers didn't do so until gaining more experience. Granted, all three of Janine's Pokemon back in Viridian had also been poison types, between Bulbasaur, Zubat, and that Weedle that she said she had caught. Perhaps she was one too?
Whatever the reason, Misty's convictions were quite clear: she wanted to be the greatest water type trainer of all time, and had declared as such quite loudly to Ash (causing him to nervously shrink down a bit). Ash admired her enthusiasm, although she was quite scary when she raised her voice.
A smile made its way to Ash's face as she spotted Misty with her team out a bit further into the cafeteria. If he remembered correctly, they were seated at the same table that Ash and his team had eaten breakfast at yesterday. As he led his team to her, his Pokemon seemed to recognize her from yesterday, and looked at their Trainer curiously.
Much like Ash, Misty had four Pokemon with her. The hot-blooded girl had told him about them during their conversation yesterday.
The first was a golden-brown, starfish-like Pokemon. It was a Staryu, and Misty's starter. Apparently, Staryu had no gender.
The second was a surprising one. A penguin-like Pokemon, whose color was mostly a mixture of light-blue, dark-blue, and white, with yellow feet and a yellow beak.
This was a Piplup, which was a foreign Pokemon. In fact, it was known to be the water type starter Pokemon for the Sinnoh Region.
Misty had lucked out with this one, apparently catching Piplup at a fishing event held at Cerulean City on Opening Day prior to using the teleport system. The Piplup was male, and was the first Pokemon that she had ever captured. Certainly a very exciting first catch, to say the least.
The next Pokemon was an Eevee. Much like Ash's own Eevee, this one was female. Misty had captured her at Viridian Forest.
The fourth and final Pokemon was pink and had a spherical body. It was a Jigglypuff, a normal/fairy type Pokemon. This one was female and had been captured just outside of Viridian Forest, shortly after Misty had earned her first Gym badge.
Overall, she had a pretty interesting team. Ash wondered how strong they were…
But he shook those thoughts away for now. As much as he'd love to ask for a battle (suddenly realizing that none of his battles had been against people that he was actually friends with), he knew that he and his team would really have to get moving after breakfast.
Instead, he put those thoughts aside for now, approaching Misty with caution.
A sudden feeling of nervousness was suddenly felt within his stomach. Why was he nervous? He had talked with her before. She seemed to like him well enough. Why was initiating an interaction with somebody that he already knew so difficult?
Ash shook his head a bit, trying to clear away the doubts from his mind. He needed to stop waiting for people to come to him. He was a Pokemon trainer now. He needed to be more confident in himself. And that definitely included being more social with other people.
Right now, she hadn't noticed him yet, and neither had her team. All of them were simply focused on eating.
Taking a deep breath, Ash steeled himself and, taking a leap of faith, made his way over to her. Judging by her tray, it seemed like she had only just started.
"Hey… Misty?"
The girl perked up and turned to see him standing behind her, suddenly attracting the attention of her team as well. He tensed up a bit at the sets of eyes staring at him.
To his relief, however, she smiled. Not an overly ecstatic grin, but also not a small, halfhearted one. Just a regular, friendly smile.
"Oh! Hey, Ash. Nice to see you."
Ash felt a small case of Butterfree in his stomach at that, but tried not to make too big a deal of it.
'Relax, Ash.' he thought to himself. 'This girl isn't Gary. Her being happy to see you shouldn't be so overwhelming.'
It was true that "Nice to see you" wouldn't have ever been something that he'd hear from one of the kids his age back at Pallet Town. Not directed towards him, anyway.
But he knew better now. There was no need to be surprised when somebody said that to him. It was a very typical thing to say. Misty, Janine, Emily, and Rick weren't the kids from Pallet Town. Therefore, he needed to keep his memories of Pallet Town divorced from his expectations when socializing.
As Misty's team eyed his own team carefully (Ash's team themselves doing the same), the young boy's eyes flickered over to the spot next to Misty before he locked eyes with her again.
"Would it be okay if we… sat with you guys?"
Misty blinked for a second before her grin widened a bit.
"Duh, why are you even asking?"
The built up stress within him subsided completely.
'See?' he thought to himself. 'That wasn't so hard.'
/
It didn't take more than a few minutes for the two rookies to introduce their respective teams to one another. Ash's Eevee and Misty's Eevee both took an immediate interest in one another due to being of the same species. Valiant found himself sitting next to Staryu, the two both silent but content with each other's presence, while Pikachu and Nebula quickly engaged in friendly chatter with Piplup and Jigglypuff.
Ash set his tray down next to Misty's, the girl scooting over a bit so he could set next to her more comfortably.
"Nice to see your team's still chipper after yesterday." Misty commented, taking a break from her muffin (which looked like it was blueberry), fruit punch, applesauce and eggs to look over to the two teams eating together. "You should've seen my team after they recovered yesterday. Nothing but grumbles."
Ash chose not to point out that she herself wasn't in the best mood herself the previous morning, and simply smiled a bit. "I was worried they might be upset. Especially Pikachu. He… doesn't like Gary."
She turned her gaze to him, curiosity now occupying her features.
"You don't seem to either." her tone of voice wasn't accusatory, just matter of fact.
Ash's face became uneasy, turning back to his food, consisting of pancakes (he was treating himself to chocolate chip this morning), apple juice, sausages, eggs, and a hash brown. Sensing his discomfort, Misty frowned guiltily.
"Sorry, I-" her voice was a lot more… gentle than normal.
"It's fine." Ash quickly cut her off. "He's… caused me a lot of trouble back at home, but I'm trying not to think about that anymore right now." he took a bite out of one of his pancakes, joyously taking in the taste of the chocolate chips as he chewed. "What matters right now is getting the badges that I need to reach the Indigo Plateau. I'll get stronger than him eventually. I just can't limit myself by focusing on it so much."
Misty blinked a bit at that, before turning back to her tray with a chuckle. "Heh. Noble of you, I guess. If it were me, I wouldn't stop until that idiot was crushed in my palm."
Ash winced a bit. "But, ummm… not literally, right…?"
Her lips were twitched upwards. "You heard what I said."
Ash giggled nervously at the gung ho girl and quickly returned his attention to his food as he changed the subject.
"So… ummm… how has your team been today so far?"
Misty shrugged her shoulders at that. "Their mood's improved a good bit. They were pretty bummed out yesterday but they've gotten over it now, I guess." She took a bite of her muffin, chewing with a bit of an irritated look on her face before swallowing. "I'm still pretty peeved about it, though. Wasn't even a fair fight, the cheapskate." That last sentence was spoken in a growl.
Ash flinched a bit fearfully from the aggressive nature of the tone, which prompted a questioning look from her.
"What're you so worked up about? I'm not mad at you."
Ash's hands were quickly held out in front of him defensively. "N-n-n-nothing!" he said somewhat frantically in reply.
A sigh escaped her throat. "You really are skittish, you know that? What happened to your behavior from yesterday when you were battling that Gary loser?"
"Oh…" Ash's eyes wandered to the side as his facial expression suddenly became somewhat awkward.
It wasn't untrue, she had a point. A different side of him that he wasn't fully aware of prior had been brought out yesterday.
"You know what I mean, don't you?" she tapped her fork against her tray while keeping her eyes on him. "You were just… a lot different from right now. And from when we first ate together."
Ash smiled awkwardly a bit. "Yeah… I guess so. Just got tired of the way he was, I suppose."
"Can't blame you there." she took a sip of her juice as that smirk returned to her face. "Not that verbal stuff is all there was to it, of course. Nurse Joy probably had to check that precious Wartortle of his for a concussion after what your Staravia did."
A feeling of pride toward Nebula to occupied his thoughts as Misty brought up that one portion of the battle, although he did his best not to take any cathartic glee in it.
He had a feeling that Misty would have herself, however, had she been in his shoes.
"Heh, yeah. She really did do a number on him. I'm really happy for her about that." his gaze turned to his team, by the side of the table just beyond Misty, as he grinned. "They're all really strong. I couldn't ask for better companions."
Misty smirked at that. "We'll see about that. You and I should battle sometime. I know you're planning on leaving soon, but another time." the look on her face became a little bit smug as she returned to her food. "My team and I don't lose. Yesterday was just a fluke. That jerk was at a much higher level than we ever could have been realistically ready for. Doesn't count." those last couple of words were growled out again.
Ash flinched a bit again, but not as fearfully this time. "Ummm… yeah, I'm sure." his face returned to normal as he inwardly shook the nervousness away. "I'd like to battle you. It's just that… like you said, I was hoping to go through Mt. Moon soon. I wanted us to get started this morning."
A brief silence fell between the two as she studied him carefully, before speaking up again a few moments later.
"Speaking of which…" she spoke up, earning his attention to her. She frowned a bit, but her face quickly returned to normal. Much quicker than Ash's had before. "I'm planning on leaving today too. This afternoon. I just wanted to get in a little bit of light training first." she looked over to her food as she tapped her fork against the tray absentmindedly. "If you want… we're all going to the same place anyway, so…" she shrugged a bit, her face neutral but friendly. "If you're willing to wait a few extra hours, we can all go together. No reason not to, right?"
Ash's eyes blinked rapidly, Butterfree suddenly in his stomach again.
"You'd… be okay with that?" he wasn't really sure how else to respond. He had never traveled with another human before. Sure, he had spent extensive time with Elacia, Rick, and Emily, and a night with Janine, but he had never actually been on the road with someone else apart from his own team. He had never even really considered such an offer before until now.
"Our teams seem to get along fine." she shrugged her shoulders as her gaze made its way to the Pokemon seated on the floor, happily coexisting together as they dug into their food. She looked back to Ash with an even look on her face, her lips curled upwards into a small smile as she shrugged at him absentmindedly. "I mean, wouldn't hurt, right?"
Ash blinked, scratching his cheek a bit as he processed the request. Someone was just offering to let him tag along with them out of the blue. It was… sudden.
Not unpleasant, though.
He liked Misty. He still wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like their personalities meshed together in the slightest. If anything, they were as opposite as he and Gary were. But for reasons that he couldn't quite pinpoint, it didn't bother him.
Besides… The thought of having another human to talk to while on the road was something that… appealed to him greatly as well.
It wasn't that he wouldn't trade Pikachu, Nebula, Valiant, and Eevee for the world, because they were and always will be irreplaceable to him. Really, they were all that he needed.
But they weren't human. Not that that was an issue, at all, because it most certainly wasn't to him, but getting to interact with other people was an experience that interactions with Pokemon just could not provide, and vice versa.
The fact that the invitation had actually been extended to him, and done so casually, as though Misty didn't even believe it to be such a big deal… he couldn't help his lips curving upwards just a little bit.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Misty tilted her head at the young boy. "Ummm… Ash? Is that smile a yes? A simple 'Sure, I would like that' would do just fine, you know."
Ash jolted out of his thoughts and shook his head frantically for a second or two, his face crimson as he looked apologetically at the orange haired girl.
"Sorry about that! Sure! I would love to join you!" After stammering out his lines, he chuckled a bit, in a nervous tone as he tried to regain his bearings.
Misty looked at him weirdly for a second before returning to her food, giving a quick thumbs up in response.
Still eating her eggs, she stole a quick glance at him from the corner of her eye, as Ash tried to focus on his pancakes, still trying to hide the embarrassment from his face.
'He's kind of a wimp.' she thought to herself matter of factly as she bit into her food. She shrugged uncaringly. 'But he's not so bad.'
/
Soon after, breakfast ended. Ash and Misty had continued to talk for a bit while eating, although none of the topics were particularly noteworthy. The smalltalk between the two of them was enjoyable, though. At least it was for Ash, although Misty seemed to like it herself. They spoke to each other without a preference, just saying whatever came to mind for them. And Ash couldn't help but like it that way.
It was nice. Nothing much else to say. He could get used to it. The more he engaged with other kids like this, the more he realised that he had been missing out on a lot. Misty was a bit unpredictable, but despite being nervous around her on occasion, Ash was glad to have ran into her.
And it seemed like the feeling was mutual, at the very least. Misty had been fairly friendly with him so far, anyway. Not quite mellow, and definitely more brash, but it didn't bother him in the long run. It was intimidating at times for him, but not something that would turn him away.
Yet another kid he wished he had gone to school with. Was this going to be a trend for him? Because it was beginning to feel like a pattern.
Regardless, once the duo was done eating, they had quickly rounded up their respective teams, who had also finished their food. Despite being surprised by the news, none of the Pokemon reacted negatively to traveling together, which pleased both trainers.
In fact, Pikachu and Jigglypuff seemed to be quite open to the idea, which seemed to help further encourage the rest of the Pokemon along with them.
Misty and her team spent a few hours on the battlefield training together, with Ash and his team watching and occasionally doing some minor drills of their own.
After a quick snack break, everybody was ready to go, saying a quick goodbye to Nurse Joy as they made their way out of the Pokemon Center.
Said Pokemon Center was located right at the foot of Mt. Moon, so it wouldn't take too long for them to get there.
Ash had Pikachu and Eevee at his side. Nebula wouldn't be able to fly around as freely in the caverns of Mt. Moon, and Valiant had preferred to not take the trip on foot. Pikachu, as Ash had noticed, had never taken issue to traveling outside, usually choosing to stay out and about whenever Ash had provided him with the option. The boy was surprised that Eevee had chose to come along too, however. Not that he was upset about it, of course.
Part of him wondered if it was a good thing that Nebula wasn't out at the moment, then, since Eevee was still feeling bitter towards her for their encounter from a couple of days ago. It was still too soon.
On Misty's end, only Piplup had opted to stay out.
The penguin-like Pokemon was casually conversing with Pikachu (Eevee curiously listening in), as Misty approached Ash.
"Alright, are you ready to get going?" her backpack was strapped neatly over her soldiers as she eyed the boy, who slowly nodded in response.
He was suddenly feeling a bit nervous. Not just because of Misty's presence (he wasn't used to traveling with other people), but because of the thought of traveling through the caverns.
Mt. Moon's caverns were known to be a frightening concept for many rookie trainers, even when not taking the pathways that lead deeper into the mountain. Since their mutual target was Cerulean City, Ash and Misty would thankfully be avoiding those deeper paths themselves, but that didn't stop the trip from being intimidating nevertheless. The young boy frequently found himself paranoid about getting lost inside of the tunnels.
The thought had him inwardly shivering, but he suppressed those fears for now, doing his best to put on a brave face in front of his new friend. He'd already embarrassed himself in front of Misty a good few times, after all.
"Y-Yeah, ready when you are." he hoped his smile didn't seem too fake. Thankfully, Misty wasn't studying him very closely as he responded, so he seemed to be good to go.
"Great." The brash orange haired girl had a much more genuine smile on her face as she casually nodded back at him. Was she not nervous at all? Or was she just better at hiding it? Or maybe she wasn't hiding it as well as Ash thought she was and he just wasn't observant enough to pick up on the signals?
The boy tried to study her for a moment as she made her casual, carefree response. There didn't seem to be anything deceptive occupying her features, but then again, what signals was he supposed to be looking for?
Was she really that much braver than him? Or just better at acting like it? Or was he just horrible at picking up on other people's cues? Just what was it that he was doing wrong?
"Ummm… Ash?" he blinked out of his stupor to find Misty scrutinizingly looking him over, her hands pressed against her hips. "Why are you staring at me? Or looking off into space?"
Ash's face was getting hot again.
"Sorry! I'm ready, let's go!" he stammered out nervously as the exchange caught the attention of their Pokemon.
Misty's eyes slowly began to narrow, prompting the young boy to flinch under her gaze. Mercifully, however, it did not last long, and she soon turned to their teammates in order to get their attention.
"Alright, you three! Chitchats are over, save the rest of your talk for the trip." she pointed her thumb backwards in the direction of the towering mountain ahead of them.
The three Pokemon nodded and began moving. As they followed their trainers towards the mountain, Ash pressed his hands against his cheeks a couple of times, as if trying to will the blush on his face away.
'Damnit.' he thought to himself. 'I embarrassed myself again.'
/
The trek to Mt. Moon was short but rough.
Reaching the caverns required the group to traverse the increasingly rocky road ahead of them, which eventually began to rise into a hill of somewhat uneven ground as they followed the path that led them to the entrance of the caverns. More than once, Ash and his orange haired friend found themselves stumbling as they focused themselves and their efforts to maintain their balance, Misty having to grab hold of him to stop him from falling on a couple of occasions.
Pikachu was having no trouble with the climb, having spent a whole week practicing such things back in Pewter, but Eevee and Piplup were notably more troubled by the ordeal, while Ash and Misty were left moving forward in an awkward manner as they constantly had to switch gazes between their feet and the road ahead of them, making sure to look exactly where they were stepping while simultaneously having to keep their eyes out in front of them. It was a tedious ordeal, and one that neither of them enjoyed.
Ash could not fault Misty for the groan that escaped her throat as the group of five finally made their way to the entrance of the tunnels.
"UGGGH…remind me never to do that again. Now I definitely wish I had started somewhere else! I should've waited until I was far into my journey and had a nice, big flying type to just soar me over this bullcrap!" The girl grunted in disgust as she glared spitefully back at the path they had just crossed. "Piplup went through some training to navigate rocky landscapes, but I never bothered teaching him to climb."
Ash wiped a bead of sweat from his face as the anxiety temporarily left him…
...Only to quickly be replaced by even more anxiety as his gaze found its way to their true goal, the entrance to Mt. Moon's infamous tunnels.
"Let's hope we fare better inside." he muttered apprehensively as he stared into the abyss contained within the mouth of stone that lay ahead of them.
Misty's face scrunched up as she joined him at his side. "Yeah, I guess the real complaining comes later." she said uneasily.
/
Mt. Moon's inside tunnels were outlined by dimly lit lanterns, mercifully installed by the League in order to ensure the safety of the many travelers that would pass through the caverns year by year. Although it spared the equally grateful Ash and Misty of being left at the nonexistent mercy of the pitch black darkness that the tunnels would have contained otherwise for them to be left with no sense of direction or security to speak of, it only provided minor comfort for the duo of trainers and their Pokemon as they made their way through the still overall dark tunnels.
The lanterns each had a bit of a short range, the brightness not enough to light up the inside of the caverns entirely. The golden light that shined from them colored the walls of the tunnels, but only within a short range or so. The inside of the caverns was a mixture of shining, golden stone and pitch black rocks as Ash and Misty trod through.
The boy was frowning with anxiety as he carefully looked through his surroundings, turning his head slowly as the group made their way through.
Misty's face was lit up by the light of the lanterns as she suddenly broke the tense silence between the group of travelers.
"How long have we been walking, Ash? Any rough estimates?"
Ash flinched.
"I… uh… wasn't keeping track." he anxiously met her gaze. "Half hour, I guess?"
The boy couldn't tell if his friend was sighing or scoffing. "Would've expected you to be a bit more proactive about it." she looked on ahead. "Still, though, that was about my guess anyway. Maybe a bit longer…"
The tunnel was gradually beginning to increase in width as they continued their way through, with larger lanterns to compensate. Eventually, they reached a point where the paths began to branch off into multiple tunnels. A sign was mercifully there to signify that their current path was the one leading to Cerulean.
Misty looked over to Ash. ""We're probably more likely to run into more Pokemon if we take one of the other tunnels." she pointed out. "It's where a lot of them nest." she frowned towards one of the branching tunnels. "I'm not really looking to catch anything right now, though. I just want to be in and out of here."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, same."
/
"Thunder Shock!"
Pikachu's bolt of lightning was narrowly avoided by the Zubat, which took aim at the young mouse to charge forward.
For the most part, the main path was lacking in wild Pokemon, but Ash and Misty had run into a few as they made their way through the mountain. Although they hadn't intended to capture any of the Pokemon that came out and attacked them so far, the battles were at least good practice for their team.
Zubat's bared fangs began to glow purple as the use of Poison Fang engulfed them in toxic substances. At Ash's warning, Pikachu quickly leapt out of the way of the attack, tail now coated in metal as he ran forward for his counter.
Behind Ash, Misty, Eevee, and Piplup all looked on as the battle unfolded. Since they were using these encounters with wild Pokemon as additional training, the two friends had mutually agreed to take turns not jump into battles unless it proved to be necessary. So far, the two rookie trainers had been faring quite well, all things considered.
Zubat flew upwards to avoid Pikachu's strike, and responded by flapping its wings, shooting slices of wind that Ash recognized as Air Cutter in the mouse's direction.
The attack kicked up dust as it exploded against the rocky ground, Pikachu taking a leap backwards to dodge the attack as an Electro Ball formed at the tip of his tail.
The Zubat was sent catapulting through the air as the orb of lightning struck it, but as it righted itself, it let out a horrific screech that had everybody present reeling.
Ash wailed in agony as he practically slammed his hands against his ears, desperately wishing to conceal the eardrums from the sound as the Supersonic mercilessly made itself known to his sense of hearing.
Behind him, Misty was on her knees as she mimicked Ash's own actions.
"GET THAT DAMN THING TO SHUT UP NOW!" she practically roared as the Zubat continued to cry out.
Piplup and Eevee were both reeling from the attack as well, as was Pikachu. As the mouse covered his ears in pain, the noise suddenly stopped as Zubat attempted to take advantage of Pikachu's recoil to charge forward with another Poison Fang. Scrambling in shock, Pikachu rolled out of the way just in time.
Gasping, Ash felt a mix of relief for the sound being gone, yet was also being tortured by the lingering pain that it had left behind in his ears. As Misty began to stand up, her face now murderous as she observed the Zubat circling around in another attempt to bite Pikachu, Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. He had to end this battle before Zubat used that move again.
As Zubat once again charged forward with poison Fang, Ash gave the order. "Pikachu, Zap Tail!"
Both pained and angry, Pikachu smirked bitterly as he responded to Ash's command, holding out his metallic tail to intercept Zubat's Poison Fang.
As Zubat's teeth painfully chomped down onto the steel coating of Pikachu's tail, the young mouse immediately sent a surge of electricity through the tail, agonizingly zapping Zubat at point blank range, the bat like Pokemon crying out in misery as Pikachu swung his tail backwards to fling the opposing Pokemon away. As Zubat sailed through the air, Pikachu charged forward, lightly enhancing his speed with a brief Quick Attack, and slammed his Iron Tail into the bat like Pokemon's stomach with as much blunt force as possible.
Zubat, after bluntly colliding with the stone hard walls of the caverns, fell to the rocky ground in an unceremonious heap, and Misty huffed uncaringly as she observed the Poison-Flying Type's limp body.
"Hmph. Good riddance." Ash felt her shoulder roughly bump his own to get his attention. "Ugh, thanks for dealing with that one quickly. I'm pretty sure I would have had to glue my ears back on if it tried to pull that crap again."
Ash rubbed the back of his neck a bit as he tried to take in Misty's words, still reeling from the effects of the Supersonic just as much as she was. In an attempt to take his mind off of it, he looked over to Pikachu, who was being approached by Eevee and Piplup. All of them were also trying to get over the attack.
They seemed to be doing a slightly better job at it, though, which Ash thought was nice, even if it made him feel just a little bit envious of them at the same time.
It was only natural that Pokemon could recover from the effects of a Pokemon's moves quicker than humans could, but it didn't mean that Ash wasn't frustrated by how much more difficult that humans had it.
Humans were so fragile compared to how Pokemon were. But then again, Pokemon were the ones who typically did the fighting anyway.
Which made him wonder if he even had a right to complain.
Misty sure seemed to think so, but he felt conflicted.
Eevee approached Pikachu a bit slowly, but there was clearly trust in her eyes for the moment. She had grown used to the mouse, thankfully,
After the Evolution Pokemon sniffed at him for a bit, Pikachu rubbed the back of his head bashfully as Eevee barked out what seemed to be a compliment, and Ash couldn't help but smile. Joining in, Piplup chirped out what seemed to be praise as well.
Pikachu wasn't egotistical, but he certainly enjoyed positive attention nonetheless.
The mouse perked up as Ash approached the trio of Pokemon with Misty in toe.
Patting his Starter on the head, Ash looked forward, suddenly perking up as he heard a noise in the background.
It sounded like a pair of voices, although he couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Misty, I think some people are up ahead." he commented.
Misty shrugged. "Probably some other trainers. Maybe if we hurry and catch up with them they can tell us how much further we have to go."
Ash nodded enthusiastically. "Good! Let's go!"
With their Pokemon dashing alongside them, the duo of trainers made their way forward through the tunnels, reaching a large room with multiple branching paths.
Almost immediately, they spotted the sources of the two voices, a man and a woman standing a bit further into the room.
Ash waved a bit as he began to approach the duo. "Hey, we were wondering if-"
He froze as the two turned around.
Ash and Misty's faces paled as they spotted the large R on their uniforms.
Team Rocket.
/
Deeper into the caverns, a platoon of Team Rocket soldiers had set up camp. The room that acted as the main area of their makeshift hideout was fairly large, enough for them to comfortably set up equipment stations while still being able to move about freely. Although a good few of them were currently out and about, just as many were still in the room.
Activities amongst the group ranged between discussion amongst each other regarding their current mission, maintenance on the equipment that they had set up, and silently standing around waiting for orders.
A small group of soldiers were gathered near one of the far ends of the room.
A large table was set up for beakers of water and soda, the group gathered around the table to get some drinks.
Among the group was a towering, muscular figure whose face was concealed by a mostly green mask that covered much of his head, with spiky hair sticking out of the top. His hair was somewhat dark, although apart from his goatee and the hair sticking out of his mask, not much of it could be seen.
His subordinates eyed him with unease, their stomachs twisting into knots and making it difficult to drink their beverages as their eyes landed on him. His lips twitched upwards a bit at their behavior, although he didn't say anything.
His commanding presence translated into his tone of voice as he addressed the soldiers, raising his voice as he left the table with a glass of water in hand and made his way to the center of the room.
Silence immediately fell to every other soldier in the room, leaving only room for his voice as his words boomed across the makeshift hideout.
"Listen up! We still have a bit of a ways downwards to go before we reach the Moon Stone." The mask on his face made him seem perpetually crazed, near impossible to tell if the look on his face was truly bloodlusted, or just an illusion. As his mouth twisted upwards into a grin, he continued his announcement. "The area of the Moon Stone is the den of high level Pokemon that have made the nearby sections of the mountain their nest." he said evenly, yet in a somewhat excited aura. "Therefore, only our top members within the group will be going any further from here." pulling out a clipboard, he looked around the room. "I have a list of our strongest members here who were handpicked by Commander Archer to be the frontrunners of our mission to secure the Moon Stone. These will act as our elite squadron to raid the deepest depths of this mountain in search of the prize. Agent Cyan! A word!"
The somewhat lanky, mustachioed man with dirty blond hair tried to remain upright as he approached the mysterious masked man, but found himself shrinking more and more the closer he got.
The masked man's fists pressed against his hips as Cyan stopped a few feet in front of him, a couple heads shorter than him, and therefore, forced to look upwards as his masked superior addressed him.
"I'll be leading the offensive squadron to take the Moon Stone, of course, which means that you will be in charge of maintaining our base. Keep everyone patrolling for trainers so that our efforts aren't compromised by unpredicted nuisances."
Doing his best to look tough, Cyan nodded, before replying in a somewhat nasally voice.
"Of course, sir. Let's just hope no one else tries to put up any resistance like the last group that was encountered. A couple of broken legs came out of that incident."
The masked man shrugged, the metal mask concealing his face hiding whether or not his facial expression was callous or simply matter of fact. "You can never predict the actions of these travelers. Some are either cowardly enough, or smart enough, to cooperate, while others will make things harder for everybody involved. Speaking of which, I'm going to pay a quick visit to our prisoners before departing. Round up everyone on the list." handing the clipboard to Cyan, he turned away without another word, walking off towards one of the tunnels.
As Cyan began reading the names on the list aloud, watching as the assigned members lined up, his mind was in an almost completely different place.
'Despicable that I am not on the list. Is the commander really that incapable of recognizing talent? We have all these people getting ready to pillage this mountain's greatest treasure, and I'm… stuck on guard duty!'
/
The Iron-Masked man made his way through the tunnel to reach a smaller room, eying the children and teenagers that were lined up against the wall in the back. He grinned as most of the prisoners froze up upon his arrival, with the soldiers watching over them in the room immediately perking up upon noticing his presence.
Just as he was about to speak, he noticed a pink haired girl sitting on the hard, rocky floor, shivering as she was accosted by one of the soldiers.
She could be no older than twelve or thirteen, perhaps eleven, and the look of horror on her face as she realized that she had nowhere to back away was palpable.
The soldier pressed his hand firmly against the wall as he glowered into her eyes. "Thought you could get away with passing secret notes to your buddies, huh? Do you take us for some kind of joke? If you want to get out of this without any bones fractured, you'll cooperate with us until our mission is done!"
The girl squealed fearfully as her hands covered her head, eyes closed as she looked away from her assailant and down to the stone cold floor.
"I'm sorry!" she stuttered in a frightened tone of voice. "It was wrong of me, I know! Just please don't hurt me!"
"If you didn't want to get hurt, then why do something so stupid in the first place! Your not-"
"What's going on here?" the man with the iron mask questioned as he casually strode over to the two. "And here I thought order was being maintained while I was addressing the rest of the crew."
The pink haired girl's eyes shot open as her gaze landed on the towering man before her, her lips quivering as she began to feel as though she would vomit from the stress.
Even with the metal mask covering his face, it still felt as though his gaze was piercing right through her. As the leader crossed his arms, she once again panicked at the realization that she had nowhere to scoot back to.
"Iron-Masked Marauder." the other man did his best to keep his voice composed as he looked over to his masked superior, and although he managed for the most part, the anxiety was still partially slipping through. "I apologize that you had to walk into this. I was just trying to remind this little girl to behave herself while she is in our custody."
"Yes, I heard. Secret notes, huh?" His sharp gaze returned to the pink haired girl, who felt as though her chest was about to give out.
"Please… I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have-" her fearful stammering was interrupted by the man.
"Enough, kid." his raised hand cut her off, along with the blunt tone of his voice. Crossing his arms again, he glared down at the young prisoner with a stoic expression that was twisted and warped by the presence of his metal mask. "The dissonance of your words and your deeds makes you hard to speak to. You clearly act like you don't want us to do anything to you, and yet you knowingly do something that is guaranteed to provoke us if you get caught in the act. I'm all for a little bit of inconsistency in this world, but your behavior is just bizarre. And Team Rocket has had at least a few dozen other prisoners just like yourself." her gaze was practically frozen in her terrified expression as he leaned down minimally in order to get a better look at her. "Your so-called survival instincts are just hypocrisy. Try to learn your place before you've given us a reason to hurt you, not after."
As the other soldier kneeled down, he grabbed onto the girl and roughly pulled her to her feet. He tightened his grip on her in order to prevent her from staggering and losing her balance from the sudden action, before smacking his hand across her face and roughly shoving her in the direction of the other prisoners. When the two kids in front of her caught her to prevent her from losing her balance again, he turned to the masked man, who held his head high as he addressed the prisoners with an even tone of voice.
"A word of reminder to you all. You're not trainers right now. You're hostages. People whose well-being are on the line until we've gotten what we came for." as the fearful crowd took in his words, his glare tightened. "I don't want to hear about anymore incidents when I get back. Simply do your part and stand against that wall. Cooperate with our men until you are told you can leave. And never provoke the people who could punish you at a moment's notice. Understood?"
It was probably the sharp tone of his voice that got the crowd of trainers nodding frantically in immediate response to his declaration. Satisfied, he turned to the other soldiers in the room, who had all gathered behind him, before offering them all a curt nod.
"We'll be moving out now. Into the deepest depths of the Mt. Moon caverns. Just keep everyone here in check until we get back. The Moon Stone will soon be property of Team Rocket."
The men nodded at that, still trying to ease themselves in his presence, but only managing somewhat.
With nothing left to say, the masked leader made his way out of the room.
The prisoners were already somewhat relieved to see him gone, and even the soldiers were somewhat mixed about it.