I'll just put this right here, when a "(1)" appears, play the Heart Gold/Soul Silver rival theme, and when the "(2)" appears, play the Black and White 2 Rival Theme. The extended 30 minute version for both. I was listening to those when I wrote it and it fit so well. "(3)" is when you can stop the rival themes as they don't fit what happens afterwards. Highly recommended. ENJOY!

---

Chapter VI: Mount Moon Paranoia

June 15th, 2006

"Sentret, use Power-Up-Punch!" Leaf commanded her Pokémon.

Her Shiny Sentret leapt from her position and began powering up her left fist with her fighting-type energy in preparation for its super-effective hit.

"Ahhh! Magnemite, try and dodge it!" Her opponent who was a young boy who looked to be no older than 12 years old, commanded his floating steel magnet. It would prove to be for naught though as the Scout Pokémon connected with its super-effective Power-Up-Punch.

The opponent's Magnemite flew backwards a good eight feet or so with a single swirl where its eyeball usually resides.

"Magnemite is unable to battle. Sentret wins! Trainers, please call out your next Pokémon!" Brock called out as he was the stand-in referee for this trainer battle.

Leaf called back her Pokémon to her Pokéball. "Great job Sentret. You won without breaking a sweat. I'm proud." She expressed her gratitude as she brings out her next Pokémon. "Shinx, you're up!"

Out came the other Pokémon that was caught from the Kanto Power Plant a couple years prior. This Pokémon was a quadrupedal as opposed to a bipedal like the one Ash has. It's face is mostly of baby-blue color with eyes so bright that it could light up anywhere like a Christmas tree. It had a tail that ended with a star and looked cute all things considering. This was the Flash Pokémon, Shinx.

The young unnamed trainers tried to stand tough. "You only won because you had a type advantage, if I had known you were gonna use a move like that, I would have used something different."

"Please, call out your Pokémon Jake!" Brock voiced with authority to the now-named Jake, as his patience was running a bit thin.

"Psh, whatever. Metapod, get out there!" He said as he threw his Pokéball towards the ground. This Pokémon had...some character to it. It was a giant green pod looking specimen that was shielding the Caterpie inside while it was evolving into a Butterfree. Though this Metapod looked to be more of a Mint-Green rather than a Forest-Green. The lighter the green is on a Metapod, the less healthy it is, which in turn means it'll take even longer to evolve. The entire group noticed how light the color was and shook their heads.

Before anything else was said though, Shinx looked to give quite a death glare to his opponent and the Metapod shivered in fear a bit. Misty had an idea so she questioned Ash, "Does Shinx have intimidate?"

Ash nodded as he looked on. "Yeah. We found this out when a couple Fearow were giving some Pidgey trouble back in Pallet Town. Needless to say," He said as he looked to her, "We haven't seen those Fearow since." Misty giggled at that.

Ash and Misty looked on to the battle at hand before Leaf called out, "Shinx, use Tackle!" Shinx began dashing its way over towards the Metapod with impressive speed. It wasn't quite the speed of a quick attack, but Shinx was called the Flash Pokémon for more reasons than one.

"It's fast!" Jake chanted. "Metapod, uhh, use..." He wouldn't get to finish his command as Leaf's Shinx, with full force, Tackled the Metapod into the ground. Metapod looked dazed now and wasn't exactly sure where it was, but Leaf wasn't about to let up one bit. She had this battle in her pocket and she wasn't about to give the other trainer an edge.

"Finish it with Ice Fang!" Since the Flash Pokémon was only about two feet away from its target, it casually walked over to his opponent and bit down onto its body with sub-zero temperatures transferring from his fangs to the shell.

It ended with swirls in Metapod's eyes, but that wasn't all. Metapod wasn't just knocked out, it was completely frozen in ice.

Brock made it official. "Metapod is unable to battle. Shinx wins! Which means the victory goes to Sentret, Shinx and Leaf." He stated as he rose his left arm towards the victor.

"Amazing work Shinx! Great job!" She praised her Pokémon.

"Shinx!" He squealed in approval.

Jake looked like a ticking time bomb before he put his hands behind his head and screamed. "NOOOO! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO USE HARDEN YET! IT'S FAVORITE MOVE! AHHHH!" His scream was so loud that a couple of the natural flying type Pokémon who lived in the area starting flying away from the trees in hopes to get the screeching out of their ears.

The opposing trainer returned his Pokémon and claimed. "Next time you won't be so lucky!" He finished as he ran off to who knows where.

Leaf stared at the position Jake was formerly standing in for about five seconds before scoffing. "You think trainers would be a bit more respectful. I know how you feel now Ash." She finished as she turned to her best friend.

Ash nodded. It wasn't any surprise to say the least since newer trainers usually just ran off after a battle without so much as a handshake to show good sportsmanship. It had happened to Ash about a week ago and now it happened to Leaf.

She continued. "It makes me wonder if this will be a regular occurrence."

"Trust me, it happens more often than not."

None of the current group had said that so they turned to where the noise had come from to find an Asian-looking male who seemed to be their age. He had dark orange hair that went down to his shoulder blades. His attire consisted of a long-sleeve jacket with two different colors ending in a diagonal line of each other, making one sleeve all red, and the other all black, specifically, his right arm had the red sleeve and his left arm had the black sleeve. He had dark blue jeans with black and white sneakers, with his eyes consisting of a hazel color. He stands at five foot, three inches. This person was one of the new trainers Ash and Leaf had met back at Professor Oak's laboratory.

Ash recognized him. "Hey Grayson! How you been?"

He walked to Ash and shared a fist-bump. "I've been good! You seem to be carrying yourself well so far." He turned and saw Leaf and took a respectful bow. "Greetings Leaf."

"Hi Grayson." She waved.

He then noticed the two newer companions traveling with the duo, which of course, he recognized. "Oh wow. The Pewter City Gym Leader Brock and one of the Cerulean Gym Leaders Misty! You two have been busy haven't you? Should I expect Lieutenant Surge and Erika when I meet up with you guys next time?" He joked.

Brock laughed as he found the joke quite funny. "Former Gym Leader actually, but that was a good one. I don't think that'll happen though."

The female red-head said, "We could always get Erika to join I were convincing enough." She said as she pulled out a mallet, seemingly from nowhere.

Grayson was about to comment on that when he suddenly frowned and spoke out. "Katrina! You agreed you'd come out and talk! It's only Ash and Leaf, along with some respected gym leaders. Please come out!" By that time, he turned to one specific tree about ten feet away.

Coming out from behind that very tree came a female with a pixie-cut style haircut that was jet black, resembling Ash's hair color. Her attire consists of a brown coat with pockets just below the collar region and down by her waist. Her pants are black cargo pants with black and blue shoes with a forest green eye color. She stands at five foot, three inches. She seemed to be looking away with shy eyes.

"Katrina!" Leaf exclaimed and walked over to her.

She looked up and saw Leaf walking towards her and a small smile appeared on her face. "Hi Leaf." She greeted in a small voice.

Leaf noticed her shyness towards the group and offered her to join them. "Come on, you know we don't bite. Come say hi to our new friends."

Katrina seemed hesitant, but agreed nonetheless and walked behind the brunette.

"You know Kat," Grayson started with his hands on his hips, "I thought if you met up with Leaf again, you would come out of your shell a little more. How will you compete in PWT if you can't even confront a couple of your friends?"

The pixie-haired female just looked away again before Leaf chastised him. "Hey, Katrina just needs time to warm up to new people. And did you just say PWT?"

Grayson's face lit up. "Yeah! Kat's gonna compete at next month's Pay-Per-View! She's a shoe-in since she's undefeated right now! We met up back in Viridian City and agreed to travel together, of course she was hesitant at first. But where she lacks people skills, she excels in battling. It's quite the contrasting trait she seems to carry."

Katrina shook her head. "I'm not that good. I'm still a beginner."

"Nonsense!" Grayson yelled out. "Every time you win, those other trainers run out faster than a pack of Poochyena chasing their prey! It's very amusing!"

Ash questioned. "Is that what you meant when you said it happens more often than not?"

"Yeah." Grayson answered. "She's undefeated at five wins at the moment. Her Charmander is getting really strong!"

Ash just mumbled, "Lucky."

Leaf piped up, "We're actually undefeated at the moment as well. Ash already has a gym badge."

"Really?!" Grayson's interest peaked. "Let me see."

Ash nodded and open the side of his jacket and showed off his boulder badge. Grayson gazed at it with awe. Brock mentioned, "He actually won that from me. It was a great battle!"

"I'll bet. If you have the boulder badge, then you're next challenge has to be the Cerulean gym, where the Cascade badge is given. Meaning he'll be challenging you Misty." He finished as he turned to the red-head.

By that time, her mallet had vanished and spoke up for only the second time. "He'll be in for a fight. I won't be letting this go That easily." She said as she pulled out a Cascade badge from her fanny-pack.

Grayson marveled at that badge as well, "If I weren't already training to become a breeder, I would definitely do the Pokémon league challenge. These things are beautiful."

Brock's closed eyes lit up, "Did you say you were working on becoming a breeder?"

"Yeah why?"

"I'm actually working towards that goal myself, perhaps we could exchange some info some time. You seem very knowledgeable."

"This nerd knows more than he lets on." Katrina said from behind Leaf.

Grayson had a vein pop out from his head. "Stop calling me a nerd! You know I don't like being called that!"

Katrina just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Ash tried to move things along a bit, "Anyway, what are you doing here you two?"

Katrina actually spoke up this time. "We're actually heading to Lavender Town since NERD over here wants to read up on more knowledge about breeding and they have a breeding center there. But before that, we're heading to Cerulean so I can hopefully enter PWT next month."

That was the most amount of words Grayson had ever heard Katrina say in a single sequence, so he was surprised. Leaf noticed the error in her words, "I remember PWT going to Vermillion for July, why would you go to Cerulean."

"They hold tryouts in the same city where the last Pay-Per-View took place."

"Oh, good to know." Leaf made a mental note of that.

Misty raised the idea. "Hey, since you need to get through Mount Moon to get anywhere else in Kanto, why don't you join us? More company never hurt."

"I agree!" Grayson said. "You in Kat?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Sure. Why not?"

"Awesome! Let's head out!" Ash declared. The group that now consisted of six trainers started walking towards Mount Moon.

The girls were up in front talking about various subjects, mostly just the basics of catching up and getting to know each other.

The boys trailed just behind them with Grayson talking too much for his own good about breeding with Brock and Ash just kind of fell out of the loop. Luckily, Ash had Cyndaquil by his side to keep him company.

Brock had discussed with the group about a meteor that supposedly once crashed into the mountain back in the prehistoric era. They called it the Moon Stone. Grayson was fascinated as he hadn't heard of this tale before. Misty thought it was romantic. Katrina was thinking that's where the mountain's name came from. Leaf wanted to know more, and Ash thought it was cool.

It was only about ten minutes before they were nearing the mountain when they heard a cry of help. Of course, they all heard and ran to where the sound was coming from. It was only about twenty feet from the path where they saw someone getting attacked by a bunch of Zubats. He looked to be a scientist of some sort, but they weren't exactly sure since there were about twelve Zubats surrounding him.

Ash was the only one with a Pokémon out at the time so he ordered quickly. "Cyndaquil, use Ember to get the Zubats off that man!"

Cyndaquil obeyed immediately and began spewing out hundreds of tiny embers towards the blue flying types. They began flying away before one got sucked into a Pokéball. It wiggled three times before settling down, signifying that it had been caught.

Five trainers looked to each other before looking at Ash who had a look of victory on his face. He said. "Yes! I've been looking for a good flying type!"

He would have to celebrate later though as the man was still down on the ground. Ash ran up to him and questioned, "Are you alright?"

He immediately jumped out and hugged Ash tight. "Wow! You guys are the greatest! Superfantabulistic!"

Ash struggled to breathe as he was being constricted in the man's arms. "That was the greatest rescue I've ever had! Myself being trapped, it was so bad!"

He finally let go of Ash and observed him and his Cyndaquil who was now on his shoulder. "I'm so moved! That kind of friendship I thought I'd never see, when the Zubat began attacking me! They say a Pokémon is man's best friend, and with you two, you follow that trend. I thought I was done for, when who should arrive? Two heroes thanks to whom I'm alive!"

He wasn't finished yet. "I'm ALLIIIIIIIIVE! THANK YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU!" He had tears of joy in his eyes as he was looking in the opposite direction of the group while kneeling for whatever reason.

They all just raised an eyebrow as Misty said, "He certainly doesn't look like the poetic type." Katrina nodded with her.

He stood back up and looked at Ash. "Did I mention how grateful I am?"

Grayson answered. "Only about five times."

Leaf spoke up, "So why were those Zubat attacking you mister?"

He seemed a bit offended. "Never call me a mister! My name's Seymour. Seymour, the scientist! Knowledge, Research. I'm Seymour, the scientist!"

"You only said your name like three times. We get it, your name is Seymour. Now why were those Zubat attacking you?!" It was actually Grayson who once again spoke his mind out loud. His patience was running a bit thin.

"Okay, okay." Seymour felt pressured at his question. "I think it would be best if I showed you. Please follow me." He gestured for them to follow.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Grayson said.

Leaf suddenly got a feeling of...worry? Distrust? Fear? She couldn't exactly put her finger on the correct feeling, but she knew it wasn't good. She wondered why, but didn't question it further, but said, "You're not the only one." This is the second time she's had these strong feelings of something that might happen. The first time, nothing happened, she hoped this time was the same.

Seymour led them through the main entrance into the mountain and were confused at what they saw. It was just a simple item that expanded everywhere throughout the cave. Lightbulbs. Lightbulbs and wire anyway, and they were strung up as far as the eye could see.

"See? The entire cave is lit up." Seymour explained the obvious.

Grayson once again spoke up, "You know this reminds me Christmas time, only without all the pretty colors."

The six other individuals just looked at him with an awkward glance, it was certainly a weird analogy. They were all starting to get the idea that maybe he talks a little too much sometimes. Seymour shook his head and continued on. "The Pokémon that live in this cave need the dark. All these lights are making them confused."

"Well that explains why the Zubat left the cave and attacked you. You were just in their way. Wrong place at the wrong time." Brock mentioned.

Leaf explained her situation. "I've never seen a cave this bright. Then again, I never been in a cave, so this is new to me."

"I once was in a cave." Grayson said. "I tripped on a rock and fell in water that wasn't visible."

Katrina just about had it with his nonsensical rambling. "Grayson, shut up. You talk too much!"

Grayson came back with a fiery tone in his voice. "And you don't talk enough, so we're even!"

Misty was getting irritated at the orange-haired boy, "If you don't stop talking about things that don't matter to the situation at hand, you'll be having a little chat with my mallet!" She yelled at him as she once again, pulled out a mallet from seemingly nowhere. Where does she keep it?

Grayson remembered seeing the mallet so he just muttered. "I'll be quiet."

Brock just rolled his eyes while Ash found it a bit hysterical, but tried his best to hide it. Leaf just ignored them.

Seymour kept walking as he pointed out. "Look over there, Paras are planting their mushrooms everywhere, the hot lights are drying up these Sandshrew and the Zubat keep hitting the walls."

Ash questioned, "Then how do Zubat work with trainers in daylight?"

"Zubats are fine when natural sunlight is shining, plus they're used to it by the time they're caught. These are wild Zubat in their habitat, they haven't had the time to adjust to light." Brock showed his Pokémon knowledge with that statement.

Ash brought out a Pokéball. "Looks like I'll have to give my Zubat some time to adjust to things." He finished as he put it back on his belt.

Cyndaquil looked around in worry. It was warm in this cave, even he'll admit. Luckily, he was used to temperatures ten, fifteen and even twenty times what he was feeling now. But the Pokémon in this cave didn't and that worried him. He wished he could help somehow.

Seymour spoke again. "That's why I'm here, to patrol and protect this mountain from the troublemakers' attack against these caves."

Misty wanted some more info. "Troublemakers? Why attack a cave?"

Seymour looked worried at that. "It's all because of the Moon Stone."

Grayson spoke up once again, only this time, adding to the conversation. "Moon stones are usually to evolve certain Pokémon, like Nidoking and Nidoqueen. But I've also read that they can power-up Pokémon. It doesn't have good long-term effects though, as those Pokémon actually become weaker overtime. A short-term gain, long-term loss if you will. Only certain Pokémon for unknown reasons can handle that power, hence why they evolve."

"Is that true?" Ash questioned. "I've never heard of that theory."

Brock piped up. "I've heard about that as well. Selfish trainers give Moon stones to Pokémon that don't evolve by said Moon stones, hence why some are more powered than normal. But after a while, it brings wear and tear on their organs since it's not natural. It's not a very well known strategy, but one that is so easily exploited when discovered."

"That's so terrible." Leaf voiced. "Pokémon aren't meant to only be tools for battle. They're our friends and shouldn't be treated as anything else."

"I agree, but that's just how things are with some people." The former Pewter gym leader shook his head. "It's sick."

"So where exactly did the Moon Stone come from?" Leaf questioned the scientist.

"What you should be asking is where did the Pokémon come from." Seymour chimed.

"Where the Pokémon came from?"

"Yes. Ever since I was a little boy, I've believed the first Pokémon that ever existed came from outer space."

"From outer space?" The entire group questioned.

Seymour nodded. "Yes. And the Spacecraft that brought them to Earth lays right here inside of this mountain. It's the Moon Stone!"

"Well, that sure is an original theory." Misty said.

Before Seymour could say any further, Grayson spoke up. "So, if what you're thinking is true and the Moon Stone is in this mountain..." He stopped.

"Then the attackers are somewhere in here with us at this very moment." Katrina finished with a bit of panic in her voice.

That bad feeling Leaf had earlier only skyrocketed when that conclusion was made. If attackers are inside of this mountain, then who knows what the results may be.

"We must be vigilant." Seymour started. "These lights have been up for as far as I know, about 24 hours. Mount Moon is a gigantic place. There's no telling where they could be, so it might be best to pick up the pace."

"Hold on." Ash stopped him. "There's no picking up any pace if we don't have a plan. We don't know who's here, we don't know how to stop them and we sure don't know where the Moon Stone is, assuming it's even exists."

"Ash has a point." Brock said. "But I believe the Moon Stone exists. If it didn't, all these lights wouldn't be strung up everywhere. Whatever their plan is took a lot of time to figure out and they wouldn't be searching this place for a theory without SOME sort of concrete evidence. "

"Well, I certainly don't want us splitting up." Leaf voiced her worries. "If one or two of us get cornered by these thieves, there's no telling what they'll do to our Pokémon. I'd feel a lot safer if we traveled in a group."

The entire group of kids agreed. Strength in numbers was the biggest advantage they had on their side, splitting off would be a terrible idea.

They suddenly heard a scream coming from one of the tunnels in front of them and before any of them could do anything, a small pink Pokémon came jumping out of the path coming from the right with a look of terror on its face. It's eyes seemed to be closed as it was just running and jumping all over the place before running into solid rock not too far from the group.

Leaf pointed her X2 at it. "Clefairy, the Fairy Pokémon. And the evolved form of Cleffa. On nights with a full moon, Clefairy gather and dance together. The surrounding area is enveloped in an abnormal magnetic field."

When the identified Clefairy gathered its surroundings, it saw the group of trainers and scientist and began cowering in fear. They saw that it had a look of pure terror on its face. Like anything that they did was the worst fear of this Clefairy.

Leaf swear she could hear her heart crack a bit when she saw how scared this Clefairy was and she had to do something to assure that they weren't dangerous. She told the group. "I'm gonna calm this Clefairy down, just stay back and let me handle this."

Seymour was about to offer his advice, but Ash shot him down. He just shook his head and silently told him to watch.

Leaf cautiously and slowly started walking to the terrified Fairy Pokémon. It seemed as though every step Leaf took towards it, it just got more frightened and more petrified. She was careful not to make any sudden movements so she wouldn't scare the Pokémon more than it already was.

She eventually got a few feet in front of the Pokémon before crouching down and extending her hand. She spoke in a soft voice. "Hey, it's okay. We're not anyone bad alright? We're not gonna hurt you, I promise. Please, calm down."

She made sure she didn't make contact with the Clefairy without its consent and flashed it a small smile to show that she was sincere. The Clefairy was still scared out of its wits, but when it saw those loving eyes this human had and when it saw no malicious intent, it slowly, but steadily moved closer to her hand.

The Clefairy had expected the worst when it had done that, but Leaf did nothing to harm the Pokémon, her soul was too honest and pure for that. She then held out both hands to ask for permission if she could hold it. The fairy Pokémon was very hesitant at first, but once again, looked into this girl's eyes and saw nothing but love and compassion so it reluctantly gave in.

She carefully picked up the Clefairy and brought it into her lap and just slowly started rubbing its head and whispered sweet nothings into its ear, letting it know that it was alright and that nothing was going to happen to it now. The more she did this, the more the Pink fairy calmed down and the more trust it had in the human holding its form.

All of the group behind her just stood in silence and watched the scene unfold and it was very touching to say the least. This reminded Ash of a memory that he had a few years prior, with Leaf doing something similar to a different Pokémon. He knew Leaf was very good with calming Pokémon down and was on the same level, if not past Ash in experience with Pokémon. She just loved these creatures that much. Growing up with them all around her also helped.

The others were astonished at what had just transpired that they almost couldn't believe it. Brock and Misty had never seen anything like this, they had never seen this level of love and sincerity one had for a Pokémon like Leaf had just shown, to a wild Pokémon no less. Seymour looked as though he was about to burst like a balloon with how big his smile was.

Leaf just continued to be gentle with the Pokémon before it completely calmed down enough to show its appreciation by nuzzling its head onto her hand. She was thankful to calm this Pokémon down and find out why it was petrified of all things.

"Feeling all better now?" She whispered into its ear.

Clefairy chirped its name and nodded.

She continued on. "Good. Now why were you so scared? Did something bad happen?"

It remembered what had happened and ducked its head into Leaf's torso, hoping to shield itself from whatever horrors it must have just faced. She looked to the group with sad eyes and they all showed the same. Usually Clefairy were jolly and cheerful in nature, but this one had all of its best traits ripped away and seemed to show a shallow shell of its former self.

---

The group now found itself back outside the mountain at a Pokémon center about ten minutes from Mount Moon wondering what they could do. Seymour decided he would stay in the mountain to continue his patrols.

Leaf actually segregated herself from the group as she didn't feel Clefairy was comfortable enough yet to be around so many people at once so she sat a bit away from the others. She was still in eyesight and they could see she was just caressing the pink fairy and occasionally would whisper something that was inaudible to their ears.

They rest of them were sitting at a table when, "Man, this stinks." Grayson complained. "I know that Clefairy are usually tough if they need to be, but to have one completely petrified is a new one on me." He folded his arms, hoping something from his brain would connect.

"It makes me wonder if it had a traumatic experience." Brock commented. "The Pokémon in the mountain just looked worn out, but that face was a face no Pokémon should ever have."

Ash looked over to his best friend and to the Clefairy. He was worried, he knew Leaf would do her best, but wondered if it could be enough. He had complete faith in her, but that look is something that he doesn't think will ever truly escape his head.

He questioned the group. "So what do we do?"

"I think we need to call in Officer Jenny to help out. This certainly isn't a one-man job." Misty threw her idea out.

"Officer Jenny?!" Brock spoke up with hearts in his eyes.

"Yeah, you alright?"

"Officer Jenny is the epitome of beauty! Her gorgeous eyes are unmatched and her toughness on duty is second to none! Plus there are so many Jenny's!" Brock was in complete fantasy land now.

Misty knocked his head in with her fist. "Now's not the time to be daydreaming you moron! We need a plan to get rid of the monsters inside Mount Moon!"

Brock just rubbed the back of his head and said, "Sorry, it's a habit of mine. But I do agree and not just because of my crush on her." Misty rolled her eyes.

"Something tells me we'll need more than just Officer Jenny." Katrina added in, though her voice had a bit of uneasiness to it.

Ash questioned. "What do you mean?"

"If there are more than even three people in there, then Jenny will have a difficult time handling them. She's going to need some help."

Grayson nodded. "I would have thought she would have gotten a report by now, but it doesn't seem like it."

"I'll call Officer Jenny." Ash declared.

One nifty feature on the X2 was the ability to call the nearest Jenny to report any crimes or just for a question about something lawful. Of course, if a prank call was made, the caller usually got arrested. It was best not to mess with Jenny.

He rang for Jenny for a moment before a figure with dark teal hair in a blue police uniform appeared. "This is Officer Jenny. Do you have an incident to report?"

"Yeah." Ash began. "My friends and I were in Mount Moon earlier with this scientist named Seymour. The entire place was lit up like a beacon and was disturbing the Pokémon. We know there's trouble."

The officer in question was writing all of what he said down onto a notepad and questioned. "You said you know there's trouble in there. Could you provide insight as to what that trouble is?"

Ash sighed. "We don't know exactly unfortunately. We found a Clefairy absolutely terrified and it took a lot to calm it down and even now, my best friend is still trying to keep it at ease. We've connected the dots of the Moon Stone theory, with the lights strung up everywhere in those caves, to the terrified Pokémon. There's definitely some troublemakers inside there at this moment. We also have reason to believe it's larger than a one-man operation."

The Jenny he was talking to nodded. "We'll get investigators and officers over there right away. Thank you for providing this information. May I get your name please?"

"Ash Ketchum."

"Thank you Ash. Is there anything else?"

"That's all ma'am. Thank you."

That's when the call ended. Ash looked up and saw Brock still with hearts in his eyes just staring off into space at nothing in particular. His mouth was also wide-open. Misty saw this and yanked his ear to get him out of his trance. It worked. She didn't say another word.

By this time, Leaf had walked over to the group with a sleeping Clefairy in her arms. She said softly, "I managed to get it to sleep, but I don't know if it'll have another panic attack. I heard the call by the way, I think that was for the best."

"It's better than dealing with it on our own." Brock spoke his mind. "Jenny and the other officers are trained for this kind of thing. They're the Dragonites and we're the Pidgeys when it comes to something like that."

Grayson wanted to know something. "Well is their any way to get through Mount Moon without actually going Through it? I'm not familiar with the area unfortunately."

Ash checked his X2 roadmap and saw there was one path all the way to the right of the mountain that pretty much went through the maze on a clean and narrow path all the way through. "There's a tunnel about a mile to the right of the path that's pretty straight. It beats going through that maze. That's probably our best way to avoid the work of the officers and the attention of the thieves."

"I think it's best we head there in the morning. Look." Brock pointed out of the nearest window. "It's already dark and I know we're all tired after the events that transpired today."

"What about Clefairy?" Katrina questioned.

Leaf looked down to the fairy in her arms and thought for a moment before she spoke. "I wonder if she would let herself join me."

"She?" Ash questioned.

Leaf nodded. "She. It was pretty obvious that something terrorized her inside that mountain. I know if I was Clefairy, I'd want to get away as soon as possible."

"That's something for Clefairy to decide." Ash said.

Leaf just nodded. She decided she was gonna let the Clefairy sleep with her for the night since she seemed most comfortable with the brunette.

They had decided to get two rooms and split each off with boys in one room, girls in the other since there was an even three each. Ash had to inform his mother that Leaf wasn't going to call her mother that night and explained why. She gave her sympathies towards the Clefairy, but knew Leaf was the one to help get her back to normal.

After that was taken care of, everyone had decided to retire for the night to get an early start that next morning. Five trainers were asleep by the time 22:30 hit, but one was still awake. It was pretty obvious which was that one.

Leaf had let the Clefairy stay in the same bed as her and just watched on as she slept. She noticed it had a steady heartbeat, meaning it wasn't in distress like it was about five hours ago. Leaf could only imagine what she went through that day and promised herself that she would never let that happen to the Clefairy again. No being, deserved to be petrified like she had been earlier.

Leaf eventually went to sleep that night, but it wasn't easy.

June 16th, 2006

If you were lucky, getting through Mount Moon the normal way would take many hours as there are numerous paths one can take to get through. It was a maze if you didn't know where you were going and there are even tales of a couple trainers losing their lives in there because they couldn't find their way out and ran out of supplies. Of course, these are just rumors and tall tales, but there is always that possibility that it could be true.

The group didn't necessarily have to worry about that though as they weren't even heading through the main entrance.

All six trainers had already decided to get an early start and they were out of the Pokémon center by 8:00. Ash's Elekid and Leaf's Sentret were out at this time with Leaf steadily holding onto the Clefairy she had calmed down the day prior. It was still wary of the group, but it warmed up right quick to the brunette and she told her that they were trustworthy and that they weren't going to hurt her. That's part of the reason those two Pokémon are out right now, to give the fairy Pokémon some leisure in seeing friendly faces.

They had trekked through the side path that was about a mile in length as they were slowly approaching the shortcut that led them all the way through Mount Moon. Ash had his X2 on for GPS and they were now standing right in front of it.

"Well I'll be. There is another tunnel over here." Grayson said.

"I told you." Ash commented. "It should just be an hour or two walk through and we'll be at the other side that'll lead back to the main path."

"Are you sure?" Brock questioned.

"Yeah, judging by distance, it's just under three miles."

"Let's get going then." Misty declared.

No other comments were said as they all began walking into the mountain. The girls led up front once again while the boys trailed just behind them. What surprised them though was that the lights were over here as well. Mount Moon was a gigantic place, so the amount of time it took to put all these up made them wonder if they went through the entire mountain.

The atmosphere around them was relatively calm for the most part considering none of the Pokémon that made this cave their habitat were really around. Apart from that, there wasn't anything interesting to look at other than the occasional side-path that would lead off to somewhere else. It was all rock everywhere around.

Brock had decided to bring out his Geodude as it really liked rocks for obvious reasons. It didn't do anything extraordinary, just floated alongside Brock and that was it.

Grayson would periodically list off random facts about various things, like whenever they Did happen to see a Pokémon or just the architecture around the cave, he just couldn't get enough of showing off what he knew. Of course, Katrina threatened to smack him in the head if he continued after a certain point so once again, he said, "I'll be quiet," and wasn't heard from much since.

Leaf was still carrying the Clefairy she had found yesterday and it looked as though she was still on edge. She noticed the fairy's eyes constantly looking around, as though she was being hunted by a scary Pokémon. Her body language as well said a whole lot. Clefairy didn't try to scramble out of Leaf's arms, if anything, she tried to sink deeper into them. The brunette just watched her with sad eyes.

It was about 30 minutes in when a noise was heard through one of the walls. Oddly enough, only Leaf was able to hear it and had to stop the entire group to get them to listen around for it. They eventually heard that sound again and it almost sounded like a cry of some kind. They had heard another sound and this one sounded more human and they were instantly on high alert.

They had silently agreed to start looking around for any sort of clues as to where that sound emanated from because there was no general direction as to where it came from. It echoed throughout the cave quietly, but they were able to hear it since they were still as could be. Misty had discovered a small side-path about 20 feet from where they initially heard the sound, but nothing was found down there other than a dead-end. She hit a wall in frustration.

It was another five minutes before something knocked Ash off his feet. When he turned, he saw a regular ol' Sandshrew looking frightened, like it had just seen a ghost.

Ash wanted to know more so he asked, "Hey Elekid. Can you get tell us why this Sandshrew looks scared?"

The electric Pokémon nodded and began conversing with the ground type. It was about 25 seconds later when Elekid's eyes dilated and his pupils contracted. He looked like he had just heard the worst news possible.

Elekid turned to the group and began doing some charades to try and get them to understand the situation at hand. He started with what looked to be some circles with his hands while tightening something.

Ash questioned it, "It's saying...tug?"

Elekid face-palmed and denied that right quick and slowed his hand movements down to let them get a better understanding. "A Christmas bow?" Grayson wondered.

The electric type showed that he was on the right track and began detailing it a bit more before Brock understood, "Tie up maybe?"

The yellow Pokémon gave a thumbs-up and moved onto his next motion which was figured out almost immediately. He zipped his lips, locked it and threw away the key. "Zip it, lock and throw it away." Leaf said.

Two thumbs-up were given this time. Elekid then requested the help of Sentret who was the other Pokémon present and began a mock scene with it. He sat her down gently, put her arms behind her back and did the zip, lock and throw motion and pointed to the Shiny Pokémon.

At that, all twelve eye widened as they immediately understood the situation. There were hostages close by that were tied-up and gagged and needed help as soon as possible.

"Okay, so we have that. Can you show us where they are?" Misty asked the ground type.

The Sandshrew nodded its head vigorously and began leading them down the path a bit before coming up on another side-path. The ground-mouse walked up to a wall that led to a dead-end. They were about to convey their annoyance at that when Elekid pushed the wall in that led to a secret path.

"It's a secret passage." Brock marveled at the newly discovered hidden area.

Grayson voiced a surprisingly logical observation. "It kinda makes me wonder if all those other dead-ends had these."

"Knowing this mountain, probably." Brock answered.

It was then Leaf said in a hushed manner, "We need to go in quietly. No telling who's in here."

Nobody else said anything, but silently agreed and began to move on. The boys took the lead this time to stop anything from coming out to attack. Sandshrew was actually leading the pack through a couple more twists and turns that never seemed to end with this cave.

Clefairy was getting a bit scared, but Leaf shushed her and told her things would be alright in the end. The pink fairy looked up and once again saw those eyes of honesty and sincerity and believed her, but that didn't mean she wasn't wary of the situation.

Ash was ready for just about anything at this point, an ambush, a battle, a hasty escape, any possible scenario that he could think of and they were adding up by the minute. He wasn't taking this lightly at all, especially with hostages involved. He knew he'd have to be ready to fight if he had to. He had Elekid out and Cyndaquil at the ready in case things went South.

After a couple minutes, they group crept their way past one final corridor because entering a Large room. This room actually looked naturally made as there were pillars of stone here and there that seemed to hold up the ceiling, though that wasn't the only thing this room consisted of.

When the group spotted what else this room had, they quickly ducked behind a wall, surprisingly, not alerting anyone. Who are these anyones you may ask? Well, this room had at least fifteen people inside of it and all of them were wearing very similar black outfits. The men had slacks and the women had skirts, but all wore the same top with the same insignia.

This insignia, was a giant red R.

A giant red R could only mean one thing.

Team Rocket.

Team Rocket was here and they were in many numbers. However, they weren't the only beings in the room as there were a couple more sitting in a dark corner towards the far end of the room. Their hands looked to be tied behind their backs, and they had been clearly gagged.

The Clefairy in Leaf's arms started shivering a bit and had of look of fear in her eyes and Leaf began to understand what had happened to the pink fairy. The Clefairy had a run-in with Team Rocket, they did something to her and she had barely escaped with her life. What they did to her, Leaf wouldn't know, but something bad most certainly.

The group's eyes widened when they saw who was over there. They saw a couple familiar faces, one was wearing a white lab coat and had big glasses adorning his face, the other was in a blue police uniform and her hair was a dark teal color.

There were a few more officers sitting there and even a couple trainers, whom they didn't recognize. There was one in particular though that seemed to stand out among everyone else though. This person had crimson-red hair, almost the color of blood. He had pale skin and eyes that looked as cold as steel, dark crimson in color. His attire consisted of a navy-blue high-collared coat with a red trim around the wrists, zipper and a pocket that adorned his upper chest. He wore dark-violet colored pants and had shoes that were the exact same as his coat. He seemed to be around thirteen, maybe fourteen years of age.

Going back to his eyes though, that's what stood out the most, they were an unnatural hue of red, which was the exact same as his hair and they were colder than ice as he stared up at the man in front of him.

Most of the grunts had a look that resembled very close similarities to each other, but this guy was different. He bore a cocky smirk and his hair was a light purple color which was buzzed at the sides of his head and had a long curl on top. He wore a black Team Rocket uniform and his eyes didn't look all too lively as they looked to be halfway closed, but solely focused on the person that was sitting in front of him.

"Hahahaha!" The unique Rocket laughed. "It's so funny how you think you can beat us with your hands tied!"

The red-haired trainer snarled at the man, "You pathetic imbecile. You only have me in these binds because you and EVERYBODY here knows I would rip out your kneecaps and use them as hockey pucks!"

"And what would be your hockey stick?" The Rocket executive went along with it.

"Your left leg!" He spat. "Now untie me this instant so I can beat your ass!"

He seemed to think about it for a moment. "Hmm. Tempting, but no Silver. We don't need you interrupting our plans."

The now-named Silver snarled again and tugged at his restraints with no such luck. "Petrel, I will kill you and everybody associated with this organization one day. Nice and slow too so you can remember how it felt when I played baseball with your elbow!"

"You're a feisty one." To get the red-haired trainer even more enraged, he flicked his nose. Needless to say, it worked. Silver growled intensely at that. He looks pissed, like anything done to him would end in spontaneous combustion for the entire mountain.

Ash, Leaf, Brock, Misty, Grayson and Katrina all watched on at the rage this person was emanating. He looked as though he was ready to annihilate anything that was in a fifty mile radius. They all made a mental note to NEVER get on the bad side of this Silver guy.

"GRUNTS!" Petrel shouted out. "How's the progress coming along huh?! The sooner we're done with this place, the sooner we can blow it to smithereens."

"Sir!" One of the grunts called out. "We've excavated dozens of Pokémon from this mountain, all of which are ready for transport. They didn't put up much a fight luckily, that light idea of yours was genius."

"Excellent work." He commended. "You there! How's the liberation from the trainer's Pokémon coming along?" He pointed to another grunt.

"Sir! We've managed to gather quite a number of them and have the victims over in that corner so they wouldn't report anything in. We're super good to go!"

He looked and saw the hostages which consisted of about ten or so people, give or take. "Good work, they won't see the light of day tomorrow. You there! How's the fossil hunt coming along?" He pointed to another pair of grunts that had pickaxes and hardhats. Only these grunts had a white Team Rocket uniform instead of black. And they were clearly noticeably different than the rest, as one had extremely long magenta hair that curled perfectly. The other had lavender colored hair that looked a bit messy all things considering. Not Ash-type messy hair, but hair that looked like it could be groomed. And they also had a Meowth with them.

"Sir! It's unfortunate to report that there have been no fossils discovered." The lady reported.

Petrel shook his head. "Jessie, James, Meowth. We talked about this. All you three had to do was just find a few fossils and you would have gotten back into the good graces of the boss. And you can't even do that. I'm disappointed in you three."

"Hold on!" The one who voiced was the Meowth! The group thought they were hallucinating when they heard it speak, but it kept going. "Yous tellin us dat we're disappointments, but yous coulda sent someone else to do all da work. What kinda false hope you leadin' us to?" This Meowth was a chatterbox, that's for sure, and he had a strange accent that seemed to mess up some words.

Petrel wasn't fazed by this, "There are fossils inside of this mountain, you just have to look for them. I'll give you another chance, but if you don't come up with anything, there will be repercussions. Undersood?"

James nodded immediately, "Understood. We'll get to work." He said as he began digging some more. The others following suit.

The group was currently behind their wall when they tried to come up with a plan. They were clearly outmatched, but these grunts didn't seem like they had much. They needed to free those people without anyone getting hurt, but this was going to be extremely difficult.

"What do we do?" Leaf asked in the quietest manner possible.

Ash whispered back, "We need to let those hostages know we're here and to keep quiet. Jenny is over there and if we can get her released, she could probably handle the rest with the other officers."

All of a sudden. "Hey. Did you hear something."

Uh oh.

"It's probably just another Pokémon. I wouldn't worry about it, the executive said we had enough anyway."

"Well, I'm gonna check it out anyway, could be something rare."

They began hearing footsteps and they had to think fast. They only had a few seconds before they would be spotted and the whole operation would have been blown before it even started.

Suddenly, Ash had an idea. Gesturing everyone back, he got into an offensive stance, almost looking like he was going to knock him out. As the grunt turned the corner, Ash kicked the back of his leg in and before he could scream out in pain, Ash used his left hand to cover the grunt's mouth.

When the Rocket grunt realized what had just happened, he began fighting back, but it was all too late. Ash had brought the grunt down to the ground and got all four locks in place for a rear-naked choke hold. Once the legs were wrapped and the arms were locked, it was impossible to escape. All four locks were applied, cutting the recipient's oxygen from his brain. The grunt was knocked out within seconds. It was a slightly modified one as he had to keep the grunt's mouth shut, but it worked nonetheless.

Ash then dragged him out of the room behind them, but not without tying him up with some zip-tie he kept on his person. He whispered to the group, "He won't be waking up anytime soon." Those years of training with the fighting type Pokémon came in real handy there.

Each person had mixed opinions at what just transpired, but mostly just relief that they didn't have to deal with that grunt anymore. That was one grunt down, now they only had about fourteen more to go.

"What do we do?" Katrina asked in the quietest voice possible.

"Grayson." Ash whispered. "You can be loud right?"

"Yeah. Why?" The breeder asked.

"Alright, I got a plan, but it involves you making a loud distraction. Think you can do that?"

He grinned at that. "You bet, just let me know when."

Ash nodded and turned towards the rest of the group. "Alright, here's the plan."

After doing a little recon, the plan was all laid out. Everybody had their part and they were gonna do their best to bring this operation down. Grayson looked out from the wall to see if there were any openings that he could run to. He noticed another wall, not too far from where they were that provided some good cover, so he began making his move. Luckily for him, there were no guards looking in his general direction. He had almost tripped on some soda cans that were just tossed aside by a couple of Rockets, but he managed to find his balance.

Grayson then looked out and gestured for Ash and the gang to head out from their position to some boxes that were stacked. These were fairly large crates and since they were stacked up about three or four boxes high, they provided easy cover for the group. Brock did his part and looked out for any Rocket members and noticed two were still standing near the hostages. They were hoping they wouldn't have to resort to this, but it had to be done to get them away from it.

Brock nodded to Ash, which then Ash nodded to Grayson. It was time. "OW! My foot!"

That raised the heads of every Rocket in the room as they turned their attention to where that voice was coming from. Of course, you knew who it was, but they sure didn't. He then began limping from his spot behind the wall, pretending that his foot was in pain. "Ahh! Who put a boulder there?"

"It's a kid! Subdue him!" One of the grunts yelled and All of the grunts went charging for him. They were oddly in a straight line, which was really weird. But Grayson sure hoped his next trick would work. He put both hands out in front of him and shouted "WAIT!"

The first grunt in the line stopped, which then the grunt behind him ran into his back, and then the grunt behind Him ran into His back. And then another, and then another, and then another until all of the grunts were sandwiched together and were now grunting for lack of a better word. They seemed to be in a bit of pain and they all tipped over like dominos.

Grayson hadn't expected that to happen, but kept at it nonetheless. "Before you guys tie me up, I just have one question." They all looked at him with curiosity. "Who wants to see a magic trick?!"

They all stared at the young boy for a moment before they all broke out, "I DO!" "MAGIC? COOL!" "I WANNA SEE!" "I LOVE MAGIC TRICKS!" In the back behind the boxes, Misty and Katrina just face-palmed at the idiocy and the sheer folly the Rocket grunts were showing at this very moment.

Grayson then brought out a deck of cards from somewhere and held out the deck, "Pick a card, pick a card. Any card. Anybody wanna pick a card?" He honestly could not believe that this was actually working, but ran with it!

Back behind them, the Rocket executive was fuming and shouted out, "YOU MORONS! GET BACK TO WORK AND TIE THIS KID UP!"

The grunts however, did not seem to be listening and were too invested in what this kid was going to show them.

All eyes from behind the boxes just blinked in absolute confusion, but weren't about to question it. They had their role to do. Brock looked out and noticed that the grunts who were watching the hostages were too busy in the magic trick that Grayson was showing right now. "Let's go." But before they could actually move, Misty heard what sounded like cries coming from inside one of the crates beside them and stopped the group. Since she was the closest, she put her left ear to the crate and tried to listen for what was inside.

Sure enough, there were cries of help coming from inside of those crates and she felt disgusted. She remembered hearing that some Pokémon were "Ready for transport," this must have been what they were referring to. The other four currently in the party all listened in as well and confirmed that there were Pokémon in these crates. Now they had another dilemma on their hands.

Misty thought up of a new plan and whispered, "Alright if you don't mind Ash, I'm changing the plan a bit. We need to free these Pokémon and untie those people over there. Brock, pry these open with something. Katrina, you'll be untying them. Ash, Leaf and I will watch your back. Is that fair?"

"Uhh, I don't know." Katrina whispered back with a look of uncertainty on her face.

Leaf put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, I know you can do this. You're strong, you just don't realize it yet. All you have to do is untie them and then we'll do the rest. Simple right?"

She shrugged, still doubting herself that she'd make it over there quiet enough. "Look, even if you're unsure, people's lives are at risk. You want to take the chance that they'll be saved without us?"

Katrina shook her head vigorously, she'd never put others at risk like that. "Then go help them. Like Misty said, we'll have your back. Nothing will happen to you, you just need to trust us alright?"

Katrina had never heard such salient words directed towards her before, but she knew how pivotal her actions were. She just had to shake off her people-jitters and go untie them. "Alright. I can do this."

"Good. I know you can." Leaf gave a smile towards her friend and nodded.

They then heard a loud, "WOW!" as they were finishing up their new impromptu plan. They had assumed that Grayson did something to make them impressed and they were now asking for more. Extra time for them, so he was doing something right.

Brock looked around for a minute and actually saw a crowbar about ten feet away so he quickly grabbed that before being seen. He wondered why there was a crowbar there, but didn't question it. It was time for a Katrina to make her move. As the three lookouts scanned the area, they noticed only one person not near Grayson at that moment and he was the guy talking to Silver earlier, but he still had his sights turned to the grunts. Leaf told her to go and that's when she started creeping her way towards the tied-up group of people.

Seymour, Jenny and Silver all noticed her coming along and she silently told them to be quiet by putting a finger to her lips. The captives were about fifty feet from where those crates were, so it was a decent distance. Katrina was about halfway there, when she started to build some confidence in herself. As long as no one turned around, she could do this. At the same time, Brock began silently prying open a crate with his crowbar, but wasn't having much luck at the moment.

'I can do this. I can do this. Can't be shy now.' Was what she kept repeating in her head. She was about ten feet away now when she suddenly lost her balance and tripped onto the hard rock below her.

Petrel heard the noise and immediately turned to notice a girl on the ground near the hostages and shouted out, "HEY! THEY'RE TRYING TO FREE THE HOSTAGES!" (1)

All eyes on the good side widened as they knew their plan was blown to smithereens now. The opposing side's grunts all turned their heads towards that corner and noticed her as well. All but abandoning the show that Grayson was putting on for them, they started grabbing their Pokéballs and launching them out.

"Change of plans!" Ash called out. "Looks like we have to battle them! Cyndaquil, Elekid, Kaz, I CHOOSE YOU!"

"Shinx, Sentret, Gaige, YOU'RE UP!"

"Geodude, Onix, Rhyhorn, GO!"

"Misty calls Starmie, Staryu and Shellder!"

Grayson ran over to his side and called out. "Bulbasaur, Pidgeotto and Mankey, GIVE ME YOUR AID!"

Team Rocket's Pokémon consisted of many Ekans, Zubat, Koffing, Rattata and a single Raticate. From that point on, it was an all-out war between two sides fighting to dominance. It was about a 15-on-40 Pokémon fight, they knew this wasn't going to be easy, but there was no other option.

After releasing her Pokémon, Leaf told the Clefairy she was holding to stay behind those crates and to not come out no matter what happens. She then ran in for a war.

Ash's Cyndaquil began laying waste to three Rattata before Elekid came barging in with a few Low Kicks to knock them out. The lone Raticate retaliated against them though and bit down on Cyndaquil with a Hyper Fang and slammed its body into Elekid with a Pursuit attack. They weren't giving up though and went back in for revenge.

Brock's rock type Pokémon were taking out anything that was flying around with various Rock Throws and Rollouts. Though, a couple of the Ekans dug their way underground and were hitting Geodude and Rhyhorn hard with the move Dig. All of the rock types were taking quite a bit of damage before Kaz the Rockruff came in with a Thunder Fang to completely take out the various Ekans, they appeared to have not been very strong, so Kaz actually got some wins in the heat of battle.

Misty was doing a good job holding down the Zubat as well as there were many, MANY Zubat. Bubblebeam after Bubblebeam and Rapid Spin after Rapid Spin were being called out from her Pokémon and they were doing a good job before a massive Thunderbolt completely wiped out her Starmie. She looked where that came from and saw the purple-haired Team Rocket executive out with a Magneton with a smirk adorning his face. He winked at her before another thunderbolt came flying out from the three-sided magnet, hitting Grayson's Pidgeotto and knocking it down for the count.

Grayson was mad about that and sent Mankey flying over with a Karate Chop and it was super effective against the steel Pokémon. It wasn't down for the count, but it didn't look one-hundred percent anymore. All of a sudden, an Ice Fang came roaring in from Leaf's Shinx and froze his Magneton completely, from that point on, it was out-cold. She noticed a massive Sludge attack coming from a couple of the Koffing and ordered Gaige, her Fomantis, to use Protect to block herself and the group of hostages that it was aimed for. It worked like a charm and then she ordered her to use Razor Leaf on anything that was in front of her, which was a couple Ekans and Rattata that were still able to fight.

The Raticate that Ash was focused on wasn't giving an inch and had really winded his Pokémon that were on him. Ash ordered an Ember from Cyndaquil and he got a lucky burn on the Raticate, he then ordered Elekid to use Low Kick and that luckily knocked the Raticate out after another burn took effect. He then went after some of the Koffing.

Grayson wasn't doing so hot as his Pidgeotto was already unconscious from Magneton's Thunderbolt and his Bulbasaur wasn't fairing too well because of the type disadvantage he was up against, which was practically everything on the opposing team. His Bulbasaur finished off some Rattata, but that was about it.

Leaf's Sentret was punching the living daylights out of everything that came anywhere near her and was only getting more powerful every hit she struck as she was using Power-Up-Punch. By this point, anything that she hit was left unconscious. That's when Leaf noticed an Ice Beam get a direct hit on her Shinx and he was out light like a light. Her eyes widened and looked where that came from before spotting Petrel once again with a Sneasel that looked ready for a fight.

Ash had saw this as well and ran up side-by-side with his best friend when he then directed to his two other Pokémon. "Elekid, Kaz! Keep them off of us!" He then turned to Leaf. "What do you say we take him on together?" (2)

Leaf grinned at that and spoke out. "Let's do it. Gaige, help Elekid and Kaz!" She ordered her grass-type who complied and stood alongside Ash's Pokémon. They then turned to the Rocket executive in front of them.

He just laughed. "You honestly think you can take on my Sneasel? Hahaha! You're wasting your time!" He was hunching over a bit in hysteria at the thought that they could actually win.

Ash just muttered. "We'll see who'll be laughing when all is said and done." Leaf had just barely caught that, but agreed with him on that.

Cyndaquil was now standing in front of Ash, while Sentret stood in front of Leaf. All four beings side-by-side with each other, ready for battle.

Petrel wasn't going to wait any longer and grunted. "Sneasel, use Ice Beam!"

Ash countered. "Cyndaquil, use Ember to counter that!"

Both Pokémon spewed out their respective attack and they collided right in the middle of the battlefield. The Ice Beam had more impact in sheer power alone, but because Ember was a fire attack, it ended in a no contest.

"Sentret, use Amnesia on both yourself and Cyndaquil!" She commanded her Shiny Pokémon. Sentret put her hands together and seemed to concentrate on something deep inside of her mind before a light appeared around both of them that traveled upwards, signaling a Special Defense raise.

"A silly move like that won't work against my Sneasel! Use Metal Claw!"

With great Agility, Sneasel sprinted forward and connected both of his claws into the duo's Pokémon. Though because only one claw hit them, they only took half of the usual damage. Metal Claw is typically used with both claws to maximize the damage, but wasn't done so here.

"Cyndaquil! Counter with Flame Wheel!"

The fire mouse began spinning faster than a car wheel traveling 60 miles per hour and sped his way over to the ice type. Unfortunately, the Sharp-Claw Pokémon sidestepped and the fire type missed. When Cyndaquil circled back around it was met with a punch right to the face courtesy of the ice type. It had just used Rock Smash.

Petrel grinned at his Pokémon's wherewithal in that situation. Cyndaquil wasn't doing so well, it may have only taken two hits from the ice type, but the earlier battles and damage it took was starting to take effect. He couldn't let his trainer down though, not before, not now, not ever.

"Now use Ice Beam!" Petrel commanded.

Sneasel once again attempted a beam of ice and this time, directed straight towards Leaf's Sentret. Because of the time between attacks, Cyndaquil couldn't counter with his Ember and the Ice attack got a direct strike on the Shiny Pokémon.

Both Pokémon seemed to be on their last legs right now, each had been battling nonstop since the beginning when all of this commotion started. The wounds from battle were clearly visible, with fatigue and exhaustion slowly creeping up on the duo's Pokémon.

Petrel once again laughed out. "Hahaha! So what are you going to do now? Looks like your Pokémon are all worn out. Oh well. Sneasel, Ice Beam, once more!"

His Sharp-Claw Pokémon nodded and began powering up another Ice Beam when the trainers adjacent from him began encouraging their Pokémon.

"Come on Cyndaquil! You can't give up now! Please get up!"

"Sentret please, if you know what's right, you'll keep fighting! Never surrender!"

The fire and normal Pokémon both heard their trainers' words and knew they were right. They had been with them for almost four years now and they had never failed them and they sure weren't going to now.

Both struggled to stand and that's when both Pokémon started to glow a bright light, brighter than anyone had ever seen before. Every trainer in the room had to cover their eyes as it was too intense for them. What happened next was a memory that would forever be ingrained in the memories of Ash and Leaf. Incased in that bright light were two silhouettes that fully stood with authority. These shapes that had shown Cyndaquil and Sentret began to change shape as Cyndaquil became longer in size and had pointed ears sprouting out from his head.

Sentret, who was normally a bit bulky in nature, began growing longer and longer in length with her tail merging with her body and ears shifting from the pointed oval shape on the top of her head, to ears that seemed to go along more naturally with her body. Her arms also shifted from the sides of her body, to closer to her chest as they shrunk a bit.

Their trainers were watching in awe as they were finally watching what had been delayed so long for them. What should have happened ages ago had they had gone on their journey, was now happening in this very moment. As the rearrangements of their body finally finished, the light dispersed itself and now stood two Pokémon who looked fierce and ready for a fight.

Cyndaquil became Quilava and Sentret became Furret. All of the battling in the room stopped for those few precious moments when the light grew and grew in intensity and now that it had died down, everybody was standing there in utter awe at the bombshell that had just taken effect.

The scariest part of it all, according to Petrel, was that they had looked like they hadn't taken any damage whatsoever and were raring to go.

Quilava's flames flared out from his back as he spat out a great ball of fire that began hurriedly making its way towards Sneasel. It couldn't dodge it in time and was coated in a massive gulf of flames, but that wasn't all. Leaf's Furret began shouting with intensity towards Sneasel and he had to cover his ears from the pain he was receiving, even its trainer had to do so as well. You could actually see the sound waves emanating from the Long-Body Pokémon and they were relentless in their assault on the poor ice type.

Ash and Leaf pointed their X2 at the new moves they had just used and were astonished to know that they had learned Flame Burst and Hyper Voice respectively upon evolution. Both of which were very powerful attacks in their own right. The duo were proud of their Pokémon taking that next step into becoming the strongest they could possibly be.

The Rocket executive in front of them had so many emotions running through his face at the sight of the Pokémon in front of him. Shock, anger, frustration and a bit of fear from what the duo could tell. Though it was quite obvious that this was turning into a very bad day, very fast for Petrel.

Ash and Leaf knew they would have to celebrate their Pokémons' evolutions later as they were still in the heat of battle. They wanted to try out their new moves once more.

"Quilava, use Flame Burst!"

"Furret, use Hyper Voice!"

The Pink Shiny Pokémon once again began echoing an intense shout onto her enemy, once again sound waves visible. Quilava then carefully aimed his Flame Burst into the Sound Waves, which caused the Hyper Voice's sound waves to turn a deep orange color as they quickly made their way over to the ice type. Since Sneasel was still down on the ground, he couldn't dodge the attack in time and when he saw the Fire Blast, Hyper Voice combo headed straight for him, his eyes widened and tried his best to brace himself for impact, but it was all too late.

The velocity of the Hyper Voice, combined with the inferno that was the Flame Burst, knocked Sneasel back with such velocity that he flew fifty feet backwards and into the solid rock wall that was protecting him from flying off into oblivion. There was now a massive dent in the wall with a blue ice type unconscious with swirls in its eyes, signaling he was down for the count, and would be for a while.

Both Pokémon, and both trainers stood side-by-side through and through, and they were a united cohesive unit that would one day be unstoppable. The trainers looked towards their Pokémon, whom were looking back at them with passion and determination. Ash and Leaf nodded in approval and Quilava and Furret nodded back with a smile on all of their faces.

The duo then looked around and noticed the commotion was still everywhere around the room, though not as heavy as when they first started their battle with Sneasel. Elekid, Kaz and Gaige did a fantastic job at keeping any opponent, who so much as looked at their trainers, at bay. Depending on who you were asking, their opponents were getting kicked into walls, bit until they couldn't fight no more, or were shot at my thousands of tiny leaves, each leaving their mark. They were enjoying this battle so much, that they actually were keeping score as to who had the most knockouts. Elekid was winning so far.

Brock, Misty and Grayson were still doing alright all things considering, although not without setbacks. Brock's Geodude tapped out a bit of time ago, Misty's Shellder was overwhelmed by the Zubat, and Grayson's Bulbasaur couldn't take anymore so he was down for the count. That meant Brock still had Onix and Rhyhorn, Misty had Staryu and Grayson had Mankey left to fight.

There was only a few Zubat and a few Ekans left and they looked to be on their last legs. Brock then ordered his Rhyhorn to use Stone Edge to finish them off. Rhyhorn proceeded to stomp its feet onto the ground and pointed stones started making shape before the Spikes Pokémon slammed its own body onto the ground, thus making the stones fly into the air, knocking each and every Zubat out while Mankey, Elekid, Kaz and Gaige cleaned up the ground game by taking out the rest of the Ekans with their respective Karate Chop, Low Kick, Thunder Fang and Razor Leaf attacks.

One may have been wondering what happened with the hostages. Well, Katrina managed to get over to them and untie them all, but since there was so much commotion going on, they couldn't do anything as they had their Pokémon taken away for obvious reasons. They had all managed to duck behind the large wooden crates and that easily provided cover for the ten or so people that the Rockets had captured.

Petrel didn't think things couldn't get worse and so while all the trainers were still assessing the situation at hand and disarming the Rocket grunts, he tried to slip out of the room towards the exit.

He had almost made his escape until he found the same Quilava and Furret he had battled earlier along with their trainers, looking as though they were going to unleash their wrath had he taken another step. With a heavy sigh, he reluctantly put his hands up in surrender. The battle was over. (3)

A few seconds later, a female green haired officer came up behind him and cuffed him and spoke. "Petrel of Team Rocket. You are hereby under arrest for multiple accounts of Theft, Burglary, Kidnapping and Murder of Innocent Pokémon. You have the right to remain silent." She continued on with some other information that was important with the law.

The duo could see the other officers cuffing the other grunts, though Ash had remembered a duo of grunts that wore white, along with a Meowth and they sure weren't there. He figured they had escaped when all the chaos was going on.

Leaf had to backtrack for a moment, she had just heard "Murder of Innocent Pokémon." She knew Team Rocket was bad, but to go to such lows. She had to look for them just to be sure. She then spotted the crates and had that bad feeling rise up in her stomach once again. "Ash, come with me please."

He wondered what this was about, but went along anyway. He noticed Leaf was walking to the crates and wondered what was going on since he didn't pay attention to what Officer Jenny was saying. She spoke, "Help me get these crates open. There are Pokémon in here."

She then saw her Clefairy and noticed she was quite shaken at the events that just transpired. Viewing the battle from behind the cover she was in was a bit scary for her, but it also gave her some light as to what a strong Pokémon is all about. She wasn't scared of other Pokémon, but she was scared of the humans that tortured her.

Once Ash heard that, he reacted quick. "Elekid! Come here please!" He shouted out to his electric type, which came right over. "Get these crates open, there are Pokémon in there. Use Low Kick to kick them open if you need to."

Elekid didn't need to as he pried open the crates with miniscule amount of effort.

As soon as the tops of the wooden crates were off, dozens of Pokémon ranging from Sandshrew to Zubat to Paras to any other Pokémon that was native came crawling and flying out and were scattering throughout the cave, going to presumably their homes wherever that was.

Leaf noticed one crate off to the side that was slightly peculiar. She couldn't hear any noise from it and told Elekid to get it open. He kicked it open this time using Low Kick just for fun and that's when Leaf looked in.

"Oh my god!" Leaf shouted out and looked away very quickly and shielded Clefairy's eyes before she could look.

"What!? What is it?!" Ash wondered.

He walked up to the crate and that's when the sight horrified him. Inside of this crate in particular, were the remains of Pokémon that were once living and breathing creatures. All that remained was a foul stench. Dried up native species of the mountain lay in this crate and there was at least 8 of them. From what he could see, there were a few Zubat, a Geodude, a couple Sandshrew...and a Clefairy.

"Why?!" Leaf yelled out in a very strained voice.

Ash didn't even look for more than a couple moments, but he knew that these Pokémon were in real bad shape. All he needed to know was that they weren't breathing anymore, but he got a lot more than he bargained for when he viewed that horrifying and depressing sight.

The others heard what was happening and came over to see what was going on. Ash and Leaf just gave them a warning before walking away. The others looked confused before looking to the sacred crates and almost choked. Brock covered his eyes and looked as though he had just seen the worst sight he had ever witnessed, which it was. Grayson began spewing his guts out at the terrifying sight he had just witnessed and Misty along with Katrina began crying a little when they saw what was in that horrible crate. They knew they'd never be the same after what they saw in there.

A few officers came over to deal with that crate and blocked off access entirely, though not soon enough since the entire group saw what it was.

Clefairy had wondered what was in there, but Leaf shut her down right quick. "You don't want to know Clefairy, just trust me on this." She voiced out as a few droplets began leaking from her eyes.

Ash brought her in for a side embrace since Clefairy was still being held by his best friend. She looked at him with a look that said 'Take the pain away. Let me unsee what I just saw.' He then sat her down on a nearby rock and she just leaned her head on his right shoulder as she tried her best to hold back a sob. Leaf loved Pokémon very much, so to see the carnage that Team Rocket had done was too much for her in that moment.

She couldn't hold them back anymore as more tears starting raining down her face. That sight was one that would unfortunately be engraved in her mind forever, no matter how much she wanted to rid of it. Ash could feel his best friend's pain and almost cried with her, but had to stay strong. That sight wasn't easy on him or anybody else for that matter either. He just rubbed her back and tried to get Leaf to settle down a bit.

After Grayson was done throwing up his breakfast, he took a mini-bottle of mouthwash out of his pack he left by the wall and gargled its contents around in his mouth for a good minute or two before spitting it back out. He grunted, "Ugh. That. Was. Horrifying." He took a breath in between words.

"You could say that." The former Pewter Gym Leader was still rubbing his eyes, which were still closed for that matter. "That was the worst sight I've ever seen, by miles."

"I know all beings die and all, but goodness, they were murdered!" Grayson shouted out. He was really shook up still. He looked over to Katrina and saw her and Misty crying, obviously they weren't dealing with it any better than they were. He then looked for Ash and Leaf and he felt his heart constrict a bit. His two friends looked terrible over there. He wished he could help but figured it was best to leave them be for now.

He then looked for Officer Jenny and saw her commanding other officers on different things. He walked over and asked, "Officer Jenny?"

The teal-haired officer turned to him and greeted, "Hi there. Is there something you need?"

"Yeah uhh..." For once he didn't know exactly what to say.

"You want answers about that crate over there don't you?" She gestured towards the infamous crate.

"Kinda...but not really at the same time...I wish I hadn't seen that." Granted, he was ten, so this was staying with him for life.

"You didn't know. Team Rocket are menaces." She shook her head and looked down. "After Ash put the call in, we sent in a Search unit which consisted of myself and a few officers here. We got caught by surprise and they took all of our Pokémon and tied us up and we had to watch whatever they did..." She paused for a moment, thinking back.

"They killed those Pokémon in front of us because they weren't cooperating at all. They told them it was either get in those crates or suffer the consequences, and what you saw in there were those consequences."

Grayson had a wet-burp when he heard the story, but luckily didn't puke out his dinner. "O-O-Okay. I'll uhh, leave to your thing th-then." He finished as he walked over to a nearby rock and put his head in his hands. Officer Jenny offered the kids a ride to the other side of the mountain so they wouldn't have to trek through the caves again. It was offered as a token of appreciation and told them it was the least she could do. All of them just silently nodded without saying another word.

They all knew Pokémon came and went, same as humans, but the way they went out should never be how it happens. Ash and Leaf were still sitting on their boulder when a young man with dirty-blonde hair in black jeans, and a white shirt with a gray vest approached them.

"I didn't get to thank you yet." He stated as he stuck out his hand. "My name's Calvin."

Ash shook his hand, "I'm Ash, and this my best friend Leaf."

She sniffled and let out a weak, "Hi."

"Wait. Did you say Ash and Leaf?" Calvin questioned.

"Yeah. Why?"

Calvin took another good look at them before a revelation sparked in eye as he said. "Ah that's where I remember you from. You were the ones who came in that day when I got Chikorita. Professor Oak's junior researchers. Now I remember you!"

Leaf brightened up a bit, "That was around the time we caught Cyndaquil and Sentret. You were there the day we arrived. Along with that Silver guy."

His face contorted into one of...disgust maybe? "Ugh, don't get me started with Silver. He and I are polar opposites, I kid you not. The only thing we have in common is taking down Team Rocket. I don't exactly know his reasons, but I got mine."

"So your a trainer then?" Ash asked.

"Yep. I'm taking on the gym challenge right now. I was just at Cinnabar Island and figured I'd take the scenic route up through Pallet Town and Pewter to get to Saffron. I have four badges right now. That's how I landed here, though I have no clue why Silver is here in particular. He took off in a hurry."

Ash brightened up at that. "Hey, I'm taking on the gym challenge as well. Though I only have one badge since I just started."

Calvin just shrugged. "Everybody has to start somewhere. Though I do expect you to take on the Indigo League. I guess we'll do battle there."

Ash smiled. "It's a deal."

Calvin then parted ways with the duo and now they just sat there. Leaf still wasn't saying much, but she wasn't as bad as before so that was a plus.

It was then, that Seymour walked up to them, though he wasn't his happy and cheerful self. "I can't believe what Team Rocket has done to these poor Pokemon. It's not forgiveable."

Leaf shook her head. "If they did this here, I could only imagine what they do in other operations. Why do they do this? Why hurt innocent Pokemon?"

"Seymour does not know young one. My hypothesis, they were after the Moon Stone. Though that seems to remain a myth as of now."

Leaf just sat there, her head still on Ash's shoulder. That's when Ash asked, "So what are you going to do now Seymour?"

The scientist put his thumb to his chin and thought about it for moment. He lacked a clear destination at the moment. "I guess I'll head back to the Pewter Museum of Science for now. I told them I'd be back at some point."

"Tell Jack we said hi." Ash said. The scientist nodded and after a final goodbye, he walked back into the tunnels of Mount Moon, back to Pewter City.

Eventually, the group couldn't stand being in that room anymore, so they decided to head back to the Pokémon center they stayed in the night prior and just relax there, with Jenny picking them up tomorrow.

All of the Rockets were captured and jailed after this event...all except three.

Most of the jitters were shaken off, but it still lingered with our group. To distract themselves, the duo brought out their newly evolved Pokémon and took a good look at the progress they had achieved. Ash and Leaf let them know how proud of them they were and that this was still the beginning of it all.

There were no accounts of a Shiny Furret ever before, so when Leaf saw her that next time, she adored the pink color she had and squealed in excitement and Furret was loving it. She was glad she was able to please her trainer and would continue to do so. Only now she wouldn't be able to ride Leaf's shoulder anymore, as Furret was now technically bigger than Leaf, but it was alright.

Quilava flared the flames on his back when Ash called him out and the young man couldn't be happier for his fire type. The two of them had been working hard over the last few years together and their bond was all but unbreakable. They'd continue to get stronger united.

Since he had time now, Ash had called out the Zubat he had captured to get acquainted with it. Turns out it was a female Zubat that was looking for a trainer, but couldn't find one that wanted it. Ash had told her that with enough time, dedication and hard work, she could become the strongest of her species. This Zubat would hold him to that, but liked his ambitions.

Leaf actually still had Clefairy in her arms when she left the mountain since by the time they had left, the pink fairy had fallen asleep. Clefairy eventually woke up back in the Pokémon Center, with Leaf deep in thought. She looked around and noticed that she was now in a room with some beds and a door, but the only one currently occupying it was the human in front of her. As such, Clefairy casually hopped her way over to the one who put her mind at ease and tried to get her attention.

It worked as the brunette looked over to the pink fairy. "Oh, hi Clefairy. Have a good rest?"

"Clefairy." She said while nodding.

The pink fairy then thought about something for a moment before she spoke out her name once again and pointed to a Pokéball on Leaf's belt.

She raised her eyebrows and pulled out the Pokéball Clefairy was pointing at and wondered. "What is it? This is an empty Pokéball."

Clefairy snatched the Pokéball out of Leaf's hands and tried to pry it open and that's when Leaf got a bit worried. "Careful! That'll suck you in if you accidentally hit that button!"

That's all the information Clefairy needed to hear as she pressed the button in the middle of the Pokéball and her body glowed a red hue before becoming encapsulated in the red and white ball.

It didn't even shake before signaling that Clefairy had been caught. Leaf just stared in amusement and looked stunned at what just happened. She hadn't figured that Clefairy wanted to come with her, but was going to welcome her all the same. After that, she just grabbed the Pokéball and said, "Welcome."

---

And CUT! Wow, I actually got a chapter done that didn't take a million years to finish, I'm pretty proud of it. In my opinion, this was one of my better chapters, as I really thought out everything here. I'm still on the fence about the Rocket battle, but only a little bit. I'm gonna lay this out there, when I started this chapter, I originally didn't intend for Leaf to capture Clefairy, not kidding. But as I progressed with it, I essentially backed myself into a corner and it would have been a crime for Leaf NOT to catch it, so there we go!

I WANT YOUR OPINIONS ON THIS.

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

I can't stress it enough when I only had one person review my last chapter. I want some good ones, constructive criticism on what I can do better; like I said, I love this kind of stuff from people. I'm just glad we're finally getting in to the knitty gritty of this story and I'm just giving you guys a taste at to how things are gonna go.

How do you like my interpretation of Team Rocket and their sadistic ways? How do you like the route I took with Mount Moon? Too dark? Not enough? Let me know!

Also thanks for 100 follows! And we're almost at 70 favorites, that's amazing! Also, we just hit 5,000 views! If it wasn't so late over here, I'd be singing for joy, even though my vocal chords make my singing voice sound a dump-truck backing up and with the sounds of "WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!"

Yeah I'm weird.

Until next time!

-MidnightJD

Edit 5/28/2018 - Various revisions