FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter prelude:

It's late night in the Kanto region, about 3:00 a.m. the specific location is in the mountain ranges near Mount Moon. It's a cloudy night with patches of clear sky allowing a sliver of moon to shine through on occasion, most of the local Pokemon in the region are asleep but there are several flying types namely Pidgeotto that seem to be flying in specific areas and patterns they also appear to be wearing special harnesses with camera lenses. Several vehicles mostly Vans and Suburbans travel down back Country Roads with no lights on. The drivers in the vehicles are decked out in the latest and greatest tactical gear, they are wearing very expensive Night Vision Optics that allow night to appear like daytime. In the backseats, humans and some Pokemon sit, also in tactical gear and armed with high-end weapons. These are the men women and Pokemon of TPRG, or the Tactical Pokemon Response Group. This is a highly trained group of special law enforcement agents from the Unova Bureau of Investigation working with Interpol. They do not do investigations, they don't go out into the field to bust Trainers for selling counterfeit gear or potions, these agents and their Pokemon are tasked with hostage rescue, high-risk warrants, surveillance, VIP protection detail, and counter-terrorism operations.

Most of the trainers and Pokémon who come to this branch of Interpol come from the world of the military usually Special Forces, the training course to get in is incredibly demanding with a 95% dropout rate, the course pushes humans and Pokemon alike to the absolute edge of physical endurance, and psychological pressure with grueling PT regiments, tactical drills, and split-second decision making. It also encourages Pokemon to be free-thinking. This means that during an operation a trainer does not have to tell their Pokemon what attacks to do or not to do, the Pokemon has the situational awareness, experience, and competence to know whether or not it should use for example, Hyper Beam, or Sleep Powder. Many of these Pokemon who are able to manipulate weapons are trained and held to the same Marksmanship standard that is demanded of their human trainers utilizing specially modified Firearms designed to accommodate their non-standard human-shaped paws, hands, and claws.

In one of the vans, a woman in her mid-twenties with dirty blonde hair is checking her Rapidash Firearms custom select fire AR-15. It's equipped with an Aura sight Hologram Sight accompanied by a magnifier from the same brand that can easily be flipped to the side when not needed. The rifle is equipped with a lavender co. Suppressor known as the GNGR, "Gengar". The rifle is fitted with a Silph Co tactical laser module that can be viewed in the visible or IR spectrum and on the other side of the rifle's fore grip there is a Sunspot tactical flashlight. The woman then checks her sidearm a custom 1911 built by The Talented gunsmiths in the Nighthawlucha custom workshops headquartered in Unova. The woman then checks her assortment of non-lethal and lethal explosives, first-aid kits, spare zip cuffs to accompany her main pair of Steel handcuffs, and extra flashlight that she can use with her hand and a fixed blade knife made by The Scyther's Edge Knife Company along with an accompanying folding knife from the same brand and a multi-tool.

Alongside her is a Lucario wearing tactical gear. He's armed with an Altomare Arms M4 semi-automatic shotgun. Along with a similar pistol and gear setup to his trainer, the main difference between the two of them is he also carries a tactical Katana made by Fighting Steel Custom Knife Works. This Lucario is the woman's partner, and best friend since she was 8 years old back when he was a Riolu. They were trainer and partner together before she went to school and then they joined Unova's Navy as a member of the Special Forces before they joined the Unova National Bureau of Investigation. Where they learned the art of being a special agent and law enforcement Pokemon.

Together they went to the training academy for the bureau, navigating the rather Infamous mountain of paperwork applicants have to fill out, both human and Pokemon alike. For 15 weeks they learned the art of being professional investigators, conducting questioning both in the field and in an interrogation room, learning how to read crime scenes and evidence to find key clues that could help later in investigations, shooting a variety of firearms both lethal and non-lethal and for the Lucario learning how to use certain attacks in a nonlethal way. They also learned how to deal with being interrogated while under oath. They left the academy as newly sworn-in agents, and for the next 3 years they did everything from listening in on wiretaps, to extremely long stakeouts, they answered criminal complaints and followed up leads to their final goal of putting some of Unova's worst inhabitants behind the bars where they belong. Along the way as the woman gained other Pokemon she put them through the academy as well to have them trained to be special agents and once the 3-year period was up she, along with her Pokemon, applied to join TPRG.

After they survived the grueling two-week evaluations where their physical and mental limits were pushed beyond the breaking point, they were invited back to train at what is known as, the Schoolhouse. This rather innocent-sounding name is actually a 6-month selection course, where those who managed to pass the two-week evaluation are taught a variety of skills including tactical shooting, reconnaissance in the field, fieldcraft, maritime operations, skydiving, criminal psychology, and other skills. The two of them along with the woman's other Pokemon all managed to get through this training, they were not the top of the class nor did they shatter any records by being former Special Forces. They all had to work incredibly hard and the instructors demanded even harder work, and if anyone was talented like the woman the instructors expected twice the effort. After 6 months they were all full-on operators of TPRG going around Unova and its territories as well as areas deemed to be temporarily within their jurisdiction by their government and Interpol to kill or arrest some of the worst criminals in the world, or rescue hostages or protect VIPs in some of the most dangerous environments imaginable. All this experience, all this training, all of it, has led this woman, special agent Ashley Russi, and her Lucario, special agent Ace Russi along with her other Pokemon to this patch of mountainous forest in the dead of night.

The information that has brought them there has been nothing but bad news. Team Rocket along with suspected agents of other so-called "Teams" have been using a covert facility here to store stolen Pokemon and goods and move them to other points around the region as well as possible genetic experiments on Stolen Pokemon and illegal fabrication of counterfeit items such as potions and hyper potions and illegal performance enhancers for Pokemon. The Team Rocket grunts are heavily armed as are some of their Pokemon and they are protecting a lot of potential Witnesses such as Bean counters, geneticists, chemical experts, and Pokemon scientists that could be used to expose who the leader of Team Rocket is and take this organization and others like it down.

The vehicles come to a stop and the many doors and panels on the Vans and SUVs open and everyone piles out moving in tactical columns. Nobody speaks except for the commander and Squad leaders and even then their tones are very subdued, the only consistent noise is that of the forest around them a gurgling River, insects and Pokemon, and the occasional breeze that wrestles the leaves of the trees overhead. In those trees however are more operators, snipers dispatched ahead of time to set up hides and surveil the area they have provided much of the information about the layout of the facility from the outside as well as movements of security and other activity. With this information, the squad leader contacts the Tactical Command Center and it gets authority to move from phase line yellow to phase line green which initiates the true start of the operation.

The Operators creep silently through the forest another woman named Allison Kennedy and her Zoroark named Shadow are in another Squad that is heading to the other side of the base in a kind of simultaneous picture Attack. Ashley and her Pokemon stay on the course they're on while a third unit moves to hit the area from a third angle, none of the three attack points are directly facing another attack point to prevent crossfire. Ace suddenly brings up his paw and makes a stopping gesture to the squad commander who quickly repeats this gesture for the rest of the team who all stop, since Ace has Aura sight he can see things in the dark even their 60,000 Poke Night Vision Optics cannot. In this case, it's a Team Rocket grunt armed with an AK-style weapon standing guard along with his Pokemon a Wartortle. Rather than engage in a flashy gun battle, the operators move as quietly as possible through the forest around the two before coming up behind them and quickly subduing them with guns to the back of their heads. The grunt is arrested and gagged and his Pokemon is locked in his Pokeball, the squad leader gets a report from Allison that they have captured another guard and the third team has also subdued their guard. With all three entrances now secure the three different assault forces move into their final position and begin a simultaneous countdown. When the countdown reaches one the snipers in the trees open fire with .308 caliber rifles suppressed hitting any guards and armed Pokémon they can at the same time the assault forces launch their attack throwing flash bangs to add to the chaos. Once the opening shots are fired the surviving criminals begin either firing their weapons or having their Pokemon unleash attacks.

Out of the river water where the grunts had set up a kind of dock and harbor three Wartortles burst from the water all of them kitted out like the rest of the TPRG, they unleash a variety of water attacks catching Team Rocket Grunts and workers by surprise rendering them unconscious and unable to fight. One of the grunts that was missed starts to raise a shotgun but he is quickly killed by the human operators that followed their Pokemon out of the water.

Ace the Lucario is moving with Ashley and a squad of operators up to a building that is at the base of the mountain where the Team Rocket facility is built. The Lucario uses aura to look inside the building before he makes a series of signals with his digits on his right paw. The team lines up against the building and Ace slaps a breaching charge on the metal door. He connects the blasting caps and rigs a detonator before stepping back and blowing the door down. He then tosses in a flashbang.

*BANGING!!!" He yells as he tosses the device. A second and a half later the flashbang goes off with a 1 million candle watt brightness accompanied by a 180 decibel Bang, more than enough to disorientate and blind anybody inside the room. The squad enters to find several scientists and non-combative grunts on the floor clutching their ears and trying to gain their senses. One scientist is screaming, a piece of metal from the door has embedded itself in his leg. Immediately one of the operators goes to him and cuffs him before putting on surgical gloves and getting to work removing the piece of metal and stopping the bleeding. However, at that moment a door is kicked open from inside the building and three grunts enter along with one Zangoose. Ace reacts the fastest bringing up his shotgun and firing four rapid rounds, his 3 inch Magnum loads containing titanium 00 buckshot eviscerate all four instantly two of the grunts have their heads completely blown apart the third grunt has his chest blown open and so does the Zangoose.

A few moments later Allison, Shadow, and her team enter the building following Ashley's team. As some of the officers secure the scene and treat the wounded, the rest go down a hallway checking out other rooms and generally clearing the building. Allison goes to one door and readies herself along with Shadow and another couple of operators and they break down the door to find a lab inside. Allison tosses in a flashbang making the scientists in the room drop covering their ears and are quickly overwhelmed and arrested by the team. Allison stands up and turns seeing several large liquid-filled glass containers with nothing else in them, then she sees cages against the wall and a look of horror breaks her mask of professional stoicism. "Oh my Arceus, get Agent Looker and the others right now..."

Elsewhere in the complex, there is a massive underground Cavern converted into a kind of Warehouse with a ceiling at least 80 feet tall carved out of the mountain itself. There are several forklifts, shipping containers, smaller crates, four-wheeled vehicles for moving around stuff, and other minor obstacles. There is also a small underground Harbor with three ships looking identical to each other and a tunnel that leads somewhere else, likely a path that has been cut further downriver for the camouflage boats to slip into and smuggle goods while looking like nothing more than an innocent fishing boat. On a second-floor catwalk against the wall, a door is blasted open and the TPRG Operators storm in along with their Pokemon, they are immediately greeted by a barrage of Pokemon attacks and bullets from Team Rocket to grunts and their Pokemon. A female Dragonite wearing a harness rig over her shoulders and chest and hefting a 7.62 caliber light machine gun fires a Hyper Beam attack at a group of rocket Grunts and a large Pokemon a, Tyranitar and swallows them up in a cloud of fire and smoke. She flaps her wings and flies down to ground level shining the twin chest lights on her harness as well as the light on her rifle at the smoke.

The Dragonite whose name is Holly, speaks with a slightly high pitched almost childish voice, a slight hiccup in her evolution contributed to her vocal cords not fully changing from Dragonair to Dragonite's so she has a slightly different voice but she still can be taken seriously when the time is right and that time is right now as she shouts into the smoke.

"Throw down your weapons, tell your Pokemon to stand down and come out! You're under arrest on suspicion of violating multiple revised export laws and illegally trafficking in hazardous materials, stolen Pokemon, and counterfeit goods!!!" For a second or two nothing happens then the Tyranitar leaves from the smoke at a startling speed and slams into her grappling for the machine gun which she accidentally fires into some crates and into the ground. "Ih-oh!! GRRRR!!!" The two Pokemon continue to struggle over the weapon while delivering the occasional headbutt and kick to each other.

Holly even opens her mouth and fires an energy ball right into his face but it doesn't seem to deter the Tyranitar. The Rocket grunts come out of shock and or hiding raising their AKs to a Hyper Beam and a couple of flash bangs from Ashley, Ace, and other operators soon throw them off their game. Ashley notices there's a tunnel that goes deeper into the mountain there are roadways and even a small train track for moving Goods. She points at it and then tosses a Pokeball releasing a Latios.

"Ace! Typhoon! Go down that tunnel and see what's at the other side contact us immediately with whatever you find we'll finish up things here, now go!" Ace nods and looks at his teammate well loading his shotgun. The Latios is nearly full grown he wears a chest rig similar to the other Pokemon but no helmet, he wears goggles instead that have a heads-up display should he need it with a little microphone going to his mouth.

"Let's get going Typhoon." The two Pokemon begin to ssprint and fly down the tunnel heading towards a destiny that neither they nor their trainer are expecting. Ashley for her part turns back towards the raid, brings up her rifle, and begins engaging targets in short controlled bursts or well-placed single shots.

---

When we last left our Heroes, John the Ace Trainer and Aya the Hobbyist Trainer, John finally challenged Brock, The Pewter City Gym leader to an official Gym match.

However, John learned that he was still not ready and lost to the Rock-Type Ace.

After two weeks of grinding with the help of Aya, John issued a rematch against Brock and earned the Boulder Badge as Holly and Akira secured the win for the trainer.

After a night of victory and a day of rest, Aya says her heartfelt goodbye to her Mother, Gwen, as she finally leaves home for her Pokemon Journey with John as we rejoin the duo of Trainers for what dangers that awaits for them in Mount Moon.

As the sun rises over Route 3, it is a clear morning as John wakes up in his tent with Sparks and Blaze snuggled up against him. He lets out a yawn which in turn wakes up the sleeping Pokemon, both giving out their own yawns. As Sparks blinks her eyes open, the Pichu begins to rub her face against John's PJ's.

“Good morning, Sparks. Did you sleep well?" John says while he pets the Pichu. Sparks lets out a happy “Pichu!" as she beams up at him.

“And how about you Blaze? Did you had a good night's rest?" John says towards the Charmander. Blaze stands up and stretches out his limbs and back before giving John a couple of “Chars" while nodding.

“That's good to hear. We better get up and check up on our neighbor," said John. John then proceeds to slip out of his sleeping bag and change out of his PJs and into his day clothes. While he changes, in the other tent, Aya is still asleep while cuddling Rascal. The Munchlax in turn was snoring loudly. It was only then that Leo's paw gently shocked Aya awake.

“Morning already?" said Aya while she wiped the sleep away from her milky eyes. Leo gave out a bark to answer his trainer.

“Okay, well I guess I should get ready then," Aya says before she starts to shake the still-snoring Munchlax by her side. “Rascal, it's time to wake up you silly little Munchlax."

Rascal at first didn't stir but after a few more seconds the Normal-Type let out a snort before he finally sat up, smacking his lips before letting out a yawn and scratching his side. Leo leads Rascal out of Aya's tent as he, himself sits in front of the opening flap of Aya's tent to stand guard. At the same time, John steps out of his tent. Fully dressed he stands up straight and stretches out in the slightly chilly spring morning.

“Good morning Leo, is Aya ready yet?" John asks the Lucaro, his question was followed by an “eep" coming from the tent.

“D-don't come in, I-I'm not ready," Aya's voice rang out. John looks at Leo who in return gives John a slight glare that says “Don't you dare peak". John shrugs as Blaze and Sparks race out of John's tent.

Right in the middle of their campsite rings out a tiny yawn as Brisby wakes up from her spot where she slept in the best area for her to keep an eye on her Trainer and friends. The Rattata stretched out her body before she felt John's hand petting her.

“Good morning, Brisby! Slept well?" John asks the Rattata. Brisby just looks up at him for a bit before nodding at him. John looks back toward his tent just in time to see Rascal trying to sneak into his tent.

“Hey, Rascal what are you doing?" John called out. Before Rascal can get into John's tent Leo quickly rushes over and drags the Munchlax away while Aya now fully changed in her day clothes, steps out of her tent with her mobility cane in hand.

“Rascal, stay out of John's food, please," Aya calls out as she unfolds her cane. “I'm sorry John. I think Rascal was trying to get into your foodstuff."

“It's okay Aya, I kinda see why you named him Rascal," said John

“Also sorry about yelling like that earlier. It's kinda a new thing for me to change clothes inside a tent with a boy so close," Aya said as she blushed.

“Oh, it's okay, I kinda didn't think about that this morning myself," John says while blushing as he thinks about it. “I was just thinking about how much more fun traveling is going to be now since I got a traveling buddy with me now."

“Speaking of which, what is on the agenda for today?" asked Aya.

“Well I figure we can do some training with our Pokemon before we break down camp and head to the Pokemon Center at the base of Mount Moon. I figure if we get a night in actual beds that we can be well rested before we start heading up the mountain and investigating that Frankenstein Machoke before he becomes an even bigger problem for all trainers in the area," said John.

“I still think doing that is scary, even the Pewter City Police had trouble with that Machoke. Didn't one of them get sent to the Hospital?" asked Aya.

“Yeah, they did, and that's gonna make finding a way to stop that Machoke even more important, after all that's what adventuring heroes do right?" asked John as he raised his arms up in a “am I right, or am I right?" sort of gesture.

“Well I guess," said Aya.

John returns Blaze back into his Pokeball and calls out Airazor. For the next couple of hours, Aya and John worked on training their Pokemon. Two of those hours being experience training with John giving all of his Pokemon inspired training while Aya with the help of Leo gives Rascal some Brutal Training. For the last hour of training Rascal, Airazor, Bribsy, and Sparks were given the chance to play fight while John and Aya broke down their camp and put away their respective tents with Leo's help.

However, Sparks loses her nerve to go up against the bigger Munchlax but returns to John who in return comforts her and pets her before returning her to the safety of her Pokeball, thus leaving a three-way match between the Pidgey, Rattata, and Munchlax. Brisby loses the game but it becomes a power struggle between Airazor and Rascal but in the end, Airazor wins.

“Alright I think that's everything," exclaims John after they give praise to their Pokemon and return all of them back into their Pokeballs.

“I think so too, lead the way," Aya says as she grabs Leo by his arm.

“I think I heard voices this way," A voice calls out a few feet away from John and Aya to the east of them. Soon enough coming into view is another pair of trainers. Male teenagers.

One was about five feet and ten inches tall. He had a lean muscular build, with short tousled brown hair and striking but intimidating blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless light gray hoodie, dark blue cargo pants, and sneakers, looking to be about 17 years old.

The other boy, about 16 years of age about 4 inches shorter than his buddy with a slender and agile frame, short but messy black hair, sharp green eyes, and wearing a black hoodie, slime-fitting black jeans, and lightweight shoes. The shorter of the teen boys spots John and Aya and a grin spreads across his face.

“Well Tyler, I think we have found some trainers that we can be able to take on," said the slender boy.

“Good! We can finally get a good challenge and get some money!" the stronger-looking of the two boys, known as Tyler, said out loud. Before anyone can say anything Tyler races forward until he is a good few feet away from John and Aya as he points at them.

“Hey, you two twerps! Me and Maddie challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" Tyler shouts out loud, making Aya jump as she is still holding onto Leo's arm.

“A-a battle? I don't know, th-think we can take them on?" asked Aya. The slender boy, known as Maddie steps up next to his friend.

“Of course, this will be a wage battle. In the chance that me and my ally here lose, we'll each pay about 200 Poke," says Maddie.

“Yeah, and this will be a no-restrictions battle!" Tyler shouts out.

“N-no restrictions?" Aya asks

“That means all of our Pokemon can be used and also they might get really hurt during the battle and from what I learned during my time back in the Viridian Forest, the Trainers can even be a part of the battle," says John.

“Is that legal?!" Aya nearly shouts out loud.

“Lil' missy. Once you are out in the world, it's a big scary place, and tournament rules can't keep you safe forever, but to grow one must take risks," said Maddie, Aya tried to read his voice to see if Maddie was lying but the sly tone of his voice makes it too hard for her to tell.

“Alright, I accept your challenge and I wager 250 Poke!" John announces.

“W-well if I want to be a great trainer then I accept too and I wager 250 as well." Aya timidly says.

At that Maddie and Tyler unleash 2 Pokemon in front of them. A Machop and Geodude from Tyler and Magnite and a floating balloon-like Pokemon that seems to be seeping gas from crater-like pores around its gray body from Maddie. In response, John calls out Blaze, Dizzy, and Airazor while Aya calls out Rascal.

Right away Dizzy hopes right up to the floating Pokemon and proceeds to spray out a cone of Kakuna silk in an attempt to get it, the Magnemite and Maddie entangled in her String Shot but both floating Pokemon weave between the threads of silk as Maddie quickly picks up a stick and swings it around himself to catch any incoming threads of sticky silk. Only a nearby rock was covered in silk as Dizzy attack fails to land.

Blaze standing his ground spins in place as he whips his tail toward the Magnemite to fire off an Ember, but his tail flame only sparks as he too fails to execute an attack. At the same time, Airazor has taken to the air and flies about 3 feet above the ground before dive-bombing Tyler's Machop and slamming into its chest in a Tackle. Dealing a good amount of damage, knocking it back into Tyler's arms before he sets the Machop back in place.

“Hey! Me and my Pokemon are the only ones to do cheap shots you dumb bird!" Tyler yells out.

Maddie's Magnemite flies after Airazor from her rear and lets out a Thunder Shock, Stricking the Pidgey in midair as the Magnemite deals massive super effective damage to the Tiny Bird Pokemon. Airazor's back and wing feathers are singed from the Electric-Type attack as she is looking terrible after taking one hit, barely able to stay in the air.

“That's it Magnemite! Hit that Pidgey one more time! Koffing, give cover with Smokescreen!" Maddie orders as he backs away from his Pokemon and towards Tyler.

Seeing Airazor in trouble, John quickly races past Blaze and in between Rascal and the Magnemite before reaching the Pidgey and spraying her with a bottle of Potion to heal her.

“Hang in there Airazor, you're doing great. Use Sand Attack! Blaze use Ember on that Magnemite and try to knock it out as fast as you can! Dizzy, support with String Shot again!" John says as he tosses the now empty bottle to the side.

“Hey, I don't think so!" Tyler says as he races around his Machop and Airazor and comes up to John and Leers at John and Airazor with his intimidating glaze. Lowering both John's and Airazor's defense. “Machop, use Forcus Energy! Geodude, use Tackle on the Charmander!"

While Tyler is focused on John and his Pokemon, Rascal slowly walks past by Blaze and puts himself in flanking to the Geodude while standing right behind the Magnemite. The Munchlax was debating on which color in his Pokechow is his favorite tasting color but he forgets about it as he uses Amnesia and boosts his Special Defense as he wabbles back and forth before landing on his rear.

Upon hearing one of the Pokemon being called Koffing, Aya focuses her hearing and sense of smell as Leo motions Aya towards Maddie's Pokemon as he senses what his trainer is doing. Listening closely to the gas seep from its body and the slight smell that even she can pick up from 5 meters away, she can indeed tell that the Pokemon is known as a Koffing. A Pure Poison-Type and from the smell of it a level 8 male with a bold nature and clearly the ability Levitate.

“Rascal, back up Airazor and use tackle!" Aya calls out. Right at this moment the Koffing coughs out a stream of smoke, covering a 9 by 9-foot wide area in thick grey smoke that Blaze, Dizzy, and Rascal are engulfed in. As the three Pokemon get engulfed in the smoke, Geodude digs and tunnels underground only to pop out, next to Blaze outside the field of smoke and slams into the Charmander. Dealing massive damage to him as Blaze is knocked back 6 feet away, landing on his shoulder while he feels a snap in the joint and cries out in pain.

Dizzy chatters in annoyance as the smoke obscures her vision but tries to fire another cone of Kakuna silk towards the Koffing but her attack once again misses as she fires her String Shot along the grass underneath the Poison Gas Pokemon. Having enough of the smoke screen, Dizzy hopes out of the cloud of smoke placing herself on the Koffing's left and up against a large rock.

Blaze however growls as he picks himself up with his left arm hanging loosely at his side. He makes his way towards where he last saw Aya but as soon as he leaves the cloud of smoke, he turns towards where he last saw the Magemite while he blinks his eyes to get the stinging sensation of the smoke out of his eyes. The gentle Charmander growls in frustration just as he spins on his heels and flicks his tail towards the Magnemite's direction as he fires off a massive Ember attack. The balls of fire pierce through the smoke screen and blast the Magnet Pokemon with enough power that the Electrict-Steel-Type falls to the ground with its metal side scorched and slightly melted as it faints.

Maddie was quick to return his downed Pokemon and called out a cat-like Pokemon with a gold coin attached to its forehead that appeared right next to Koffing. While Maddie switches out his Pokemon Airazor begins to flap her wings to kick up sand into the Machop's eyes, blinding the Fighting-Type Pokemon.

“Meowth, get both that Pidgey and Munchlax in range of your Growl attack! Koffing use Smog on the Kakuna!" Maddie orders out.

John quickly takes note of Maddie's change of Pokemon and is able to tell that this Meowth is a level 8 female with a bashful nature and the Pick-up ability. He relays this information back to Aya who in return thanks him.

“Airazor use Tackle on Machop! Dizzy use Harden! Blaze use Ember on Koffing!" John calls out. Airazor suddenly drops down in flight just in time as Tyler suddenly tries to hit the Tiny Bird Pokemon with a rock-shattering punch.

“Hey! Leave Airazor alone!" John shouted.

“Screw you, you little brat! I wanna win!" Tyler yells back before giving out orders to his own Pokemon. “Geodude, use Rock Polish! Machop jump up and knock that bird out with Karate Chop!"

The Machop on command jumped up with a hand raised above its head before bringing it down hard on Airazor's back with a loud smack. The attack was not very effective but Airazor feels a large bruise forming under her feathers where the Fighting-Type attack struck her. Rascal, obeying Aya's orders, gets back up and starts to move out of the smoke-covered area to go help Airazor but as soon as he starts to move away from the Koffing and around his Scratch-Cat companion, The Koffing tries to lunge forward to land a struggle attack but completely misses. The Meowth however tries to take an opportunity to attack Rascal as he slowly passes her to flank the Machop. Her claws rake across Rascal's plump body, dealing a bit of damage to him.

With the Machop's attention focused on Airazor, Rascal lunges at the Fighting-Type, tackling him and dealing a good amount of damage as the Machop feels his hand up to his elbow go numb and tingling as he flies back to his trainer once again before being set back down to where he was.

“Keep at it, Rascal! Use tackle again!" Aya calls out.

The Koffing however turns its sight back towards Dizzy before he bleches out a foul-smelling, slightly transparent gray cloud of gas towards the Shiny Kakuna, while the Geodude rubs and massages himself, making his rocky hide smoother and slicker while the smog had no effect on Dizzy. The Meowth however races after Rascal after her claws struck him, placing the Munchlax to the east of her and Airazor to the north of her as she lets out a loud growl, frightening both Pokemon, lowering Rascal's and Airazor's attacks but not the Machop as he is spared from the Meowth's sonic attack.

Dizzy meanwhile hardens up her cocoon-like body to boost up her own defense. Blaze turns towards the sound of Dizzy and Koffing battling it out, flicking his tail as he lunches an Ember attack towards the Koffing, nailing him in his right side, dealing a decent amount of damage. Seeing as she is surrounded between the Machop, Moewth, and Tyler, Airazor sees no way of maneuvering around to make her attack as she slams into the Machop, dealing a decent amount of damage as the Machop is sent flying back 6 feet away from her.

All of a sudden, a wild Pichu burst from the bush to the south of the entire battle. While the Pichu was trying to be sneaky with entering the battle itself, Maddie, Aya, John, and Leo noticed the sound of the rustle of brush leaves that drew their quick attention to the Pichu. The Pichu scampers along the ground for 9 feet before its cheeks spark and lets out a Thunder Shock, aiming to hit the Koffing but its attack veers off to the side and misses.

“What is that Pichu up to?" Maddie says as he tries to calculate this change in the battle. “Koffing use tackle on the Kakuna ignore the wild Pokemon for now. Meowth, go after the bird with Bite!"

“Wait a second, that's the Pichu I saved back in the Viridain forest!" John says out loud as he recognizes the Wild Pichu. “Dizzy, use Poison Sting on Meowth! Blaze, hit Koffing with another Ember! Airazor, use Tackle on Meowth as well!"

Tyler raises a fist back to swing another rock-crushing punch to Airazor, before his fist can make contact John quickly dives forward and pushes Airazor out of the way, and takes the punch himself, taking a bit of damage as he cries out.

“John!" Aya cries out as she hears John's cry of pain.

“What the hell! Let me punch your damn Pokemon!" Tyler yells out.

“Over my dead body!" John says as he glares at Tyler.

“Fine! Geodude, Tackle his Charmander! Machop hit that Muchlax with Low Kick!" Tyler calls out Machop still lying on his back, suddenly kicks out towards Rascal. Hitting him in the knee making him fall onto his back and hitting his head on a small rock hidden in the grass, dealing massive damage to the Munchlax. Rascal gets back up, trying not to put too much weight on his injured knee, and lunges forward and tackles the Machop, sending him flying 6 feet away as the Machop lands in a heap, and faints. Tyler immediately recalls his down Machop and throws a Pokeball toward Dizzy and a Growlith appears right next to the rock on Dizzy's right.

“I'm coming Rascal! Just hold on and use Defence Curl!" Aya cries while she moves past by the Geodude, feeling her way with her cane when she hears the hard fall that the Munchlax had made. Koffing lunges at Dizzy in a Tackle attack but Dizzy leans to one side and the Koffing misses. Geodude turns towards where it last saw Blaze and lunges through the lingering smokescreen and tackles Blaze, dealing a good amount of damage to the Charmander. Blaze is not looking so hot as he is sent flying 6 feet away from the smokescreen.

As Leo follows alongside Aya, Maddie's Meowth turns towards Airazor, wiggling her body as she crouches low, licking her lips before she leaps forward with her eyes closed and her mouth open wide. Ready to sink her fangs into the Pidgey. Airazor dodges the Meowth's bite and gives her a hard enough smack with one of her flapping wings to veer the airborne Scratch-Cat Pokemon to the left, towards Tyler where she bites him in the arm. Tyler cries out loudly in pain as the cat-like Pokemon deals massive damage before he flicks her back to where she was.

“Arceus damn it, Maddie! You're damn Pokemon bit me and that really hurts!" Tyler yells out.

“Well, next time don't be standing behind her prey!" Maddie yells back.

As the two trainers argue over the friendly fire, Tyler's Growlith lunges around the rock and bites Dizzy., dealing a good amount of damage to the Bug-Type and cracking her cocoon-like shell. Dizzy screeches out in pain but takes aim towards the Meowth that stands about 9 feet away and fires a barrage of poison needles, nailing the Meowth in the back, and dealing a good amount of damage while poisoning her. Blaze runs towards Dizzy and her two attackers, around the base of a tree, The Charmander swings his tail, and fires off an Ember attack towards the Koffing from 2 meters away, hitting him in the face as he deals a good amount of damage.

While the Meowth screams in pain from having venomous needles shot into her back, Airazor dive bombs towards her and tackles the Meowth, dealing a large amount of damage to her as she is sent flying past her trainer and landing next to the Koffing. The Wild Pichu, still focused on Koffing sparks up his cheeks before he lets out a Thunder Shock towards the Poison Gas Pokemon, Dealing a large amount of damage as the Koffing loses control of its ability to stay afloat in midair and crashes to the ground, fainted.

“Tyler, you and your Geodude better get over here! I'm running out of Pokemon!" Maddie calls out as he calls his Koffing back into his Pokeball while he turns back towards his Meowth. “Use Scratch on that Kakuna!"

Seeing Blaze is staggering and panting, John calls the Charmander back into his Pokeball and tosses another towards Tyler's Growlith and Brisby appears behind it.

“Bribsy, use Quick Attack on Growlith! Dizzy use String Shot on Meowth! Airazor get in range of Meowth and use Sand Attack on her" John orders out.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!" Tyler yells out as he throws a punch towards Airazor but with a flap of her wings, the Pidgey flies up and avoids the Trainer's attempt to Rock Smash her.

“Stay still you stupid bird! Geodude, Tackle that damn green bug!" Tyler orders out.

Rascal limps towards Aya now that the Meowth has been knocked out of the way before he curls up into a ball as he lets out a “Munch munch!" to let his Trainer know where he is. At this Aya reaches into her bag, pulls out a Potion, and with Leo's help she kneels down and sprays Rascal with it. Healing him a bit.

“There you go Rascal, now I think John's Kakuna might need your help. Go use Tackle on any Pokemon that tries to gain up on her" Aya ordered softly.

Geodude hopped along the ground through the smoke cloud towards Dizzy and lunged at her with a Tackle. Sending her flying into the rock next to her. Her body cracks more as she slides down the rock and into a heap, fainted.

“Dizzy, no!" John cries out.

Brisby was a blur of motion as before anyone else could move, slams into the Growlith from behind dealing a good amount of damage to the Fire-Type. The Meowth gets back up as she watches the Geodude knock out her target. However, her eyes fall back on her last prey item before sprinting forward and jumping up to Airazor, and slashes her across the chest with her Scratch Attack. Dealing a good amount of damage as the Pidgey is back to having trouble keeping herself in the air, but as the Meowth lands, her visions blurs as her stomach wrenches as her own poison takes effect, weakening her. The Growlith shakes his head as he recovers before turning towards Brisby, lunging forward and biting her foreleg, dealing a decent amount of damage to the Rattata while she squeaks out in pain. Airazor begins to rapidly flap her wings as she witnesses the Meowth flinch and recoil after landing her attack, kicking up a cloud of sand, blowing it into the Pokemon's eyes, blinding her.

The Wild Pichu moves to flank against Brisby however as his cheeks spark, he sends out a Thunder Shock attack towards the Growlith, The Growlith yips in pain while parts of his fur char from the electric attack before he collapses on his side, fainted.

“No, it wasn't supposed to be like this! Meowth, finish off the Pidgey!" Maddie says as moves up to Aya's side, raising his hand to slap her but he slips on the morning dew of the grass and falls backward, landing on his rear with Leo laughing at him. John ignores Maddie's embarrassing attempt to hurt his friend as he pulls out a potion and sprays Airazor with it, healing her back up again.

“Use Tackle on Meowth Airazor. Brisby use Focus Energy!" John calls out.

“Geodude, go after that Pichu!" Tyler calls as he rears back another fist. Once again as it seems like Tyler's fist is about to hit Airazor, John dives forward to push Airazor out of the way and takes the hit himself.

“Stop getting in the way and you won't get hurt kid!" Tyler yells.

“Then stop trying to punch my Pokemon!" John yells back.

However, for a split second everything goes into slow motion as Rascal, hearing that the Meowth's trainer just tried to slap his own trainer, was not having it. While still curled up into a ball he lunges forward toward the Meowth, tackling her with the force of a rocket-powered flying boulder. The Meowth cried out in pain as she feels her ribs bruise from the force of the critical hit before she flies back 6 feet before landing on her head, hard enough to open a gash on the top of her head as she lays in a heap, fainted and bleeding.

“Why do you wanna attack some wild Pichu when he has done nothing wrong?!" Aya yells at Tyler.

“Quick Rascal, go help that Pichu!"

Geodude moves around Dizzy's passed-out body and rushes up on the Pichu, tackling him. The wild Pichu lets out a squeak of pain as a bruise begins to form while he is lunched back by six feet. As he hits the ground he lands on his shoulder hard, injuring it badly as he lets out another cry of pain as Brisby pumps herself up for her next attack. Airazor, seeing the commotion to the south, quickly flies over about 5 meters through the air before she tries to dive bomb the Geodude in a Tackle attack. She misses her attack as she barely glazes across his rocky head before the Pidgey lands right next to Brisby on her left. The Pichu gets back up with one forearm hanging loosely. He tries to make himself look cute to the Geodude but he fails to perform his Charm attack as his shoulder and chest throb with pain.

Maddie recalls his Meowth back into her ball before he moves away from Aya and towards Brisby, coming up right behind her, kicking her very hard, and bruising her leg as he deals a critical hit.

“That is for my Meowth!" Maddie calls out. Seeing this, John quickly returns Dizzy back into her own ball and tries to move towards Maddie,

“Hey leave Brisby alo-AH!" John yells out in pain. Tyler punched John in the back as soon as he stepped away from him.

“You should be more worried about me! Geodude finish off that Pichu" Tyler calls out as John rushes towards Maddie, while throwing a Pokeball towards Geodude and calling out Monarch.

“Monarch, Bribsy, Airazor, all of you use Tackle!" John called out loud.

“Geodude, finish off the Pichu!" Tyler yells out before stepping over to Aya, Leo, and Rascal. Tyler raises a fist to try to punch Rascal while he is still curled up. His fist lands true but Rascal barely takes any damage from the attack. Rascal uncurls himself and starts to head south away from Tyler.

“Which way is the Pichu Leo?" Aya asks her Lucario. Leo gives a few barks and tugs her towards the direction of the wild Pichu. “Thank you, Leo. Rascal us Tackle on Geodude once you get to it!" Aya begins moving towards the Pichu until her cane tabs against a large rock and the side of John's leg.

John looks up just in time to see the Geodude moving towards the Pichu, Monarach and Brisby both try to attack the Geodude with only Brisby managing to slam into the Rock-Ground-Type. As Geodude was about to tackle the Pichu, John quickly closed the 6-foot distance between him and the Pichu. Pushing the Pichu out of the way and taking the Tackle attack himself. John cries out in pain as the tackle leaves a large bruise on his side and is sent six feet away flying as he lands in a patch of tall grass, cutting his elbow. As he lands, John struggles to stand up and collapses as he faints. The Pichu lets out a cry at the same time Leo lets out an alarming howl to alert Aya that something is wrong.

“No, John!" Aya calls out. Monarch hops over to the Geodude from behind and tackles the Geodude, barely doing any damage as Leo quickly rushes over to the Pichu's side standing guard to protect him at any time or by Aya's command, growling at the Geodude before him. Brisby eyes go wide as she watches her trainer fall, as she tries to rush past by Airazor and Maddie, Maddie raises a foot once again to kick at Brisby's side as she rushes to John's side. She quickly digs into John's bag as she ignores his previous order to attack the Geodude and pulls out a bottle of Potion with her mouth. She stumbles with her paws a bit but manages to spray the Potion onto his cut, healing him. John groans from the stinging spray of the Potion but none the less is back to being fully consciousness.

Airazor flies over to the Geodude and Airazor and dives bombs toward the Geodude, slamming into and knocking him back into the Pichu. While the tackle attack itself didn't deal a lot of damage a bit more was added on when the Geodude was slammed into the Pichu behind him along with hurting the Pichu as well. Right away the Pichu turns around and wags his tiny tail at the Geodude, despite the Geodude being annoyed with having the Pichu smacking it in the back with a Tail Whip, the attack does its job as the Geodude's defense is lowered.

“Why are you worried about a wild Pokemon?! It's not like you are it's Trainer!" Maddie yells at Aya, who cowers from him shouting at her as Maddie spins around towards Aya with a hand raise. He swings his hand to slap Aya but during his yelling, Aya takes a step back as the yelling scared her just luckily enough to dodge out of the way from getting hit by the older boy.

“Brisby, meet the Geodude head-on with Quick Attack! Airazor, flank around, and get that Geodude away from the Pichu with Tackle! You too Monarch!" John orders out.

“Not if I can squash your puny bug first!" Tyler yells as he runs towards Monarch with a first raise closing the 5-meter gap. As he throws a rock-shattering punch and nearly slips on the morning dew on the grass and his punch misses the stationary Metapod.

“Damn it! Geodude use Rock Polish!" Tyler yells out.

“Leo come back to me, let Rascal and John protect the Pichu," Aya calls out, as she fears that Maddie would try to hit her again while Rascal slowly makes his way up to the Lucario with Monarch hopping next to him as the Geodude massages his own rocky body, making it smoother and glossier as his speed raises once again. In a blur, Brisby gets in between Airazor and the Geodude as she slams into him, dealing a critical hit to the Rock Pokemon as he is not looking so good. Seeing his favorite human in trouble and hearing her call, Leo races towards her, as he moves around Monarch, the Geodude throws a punch and strikes Leo in the back with a struggle attack, but not dealing as much damage to the higher-leveled Lucario. Leo comes to a halt in front of Aya, growling to let Aya know his location as he stares down Maddie who in turn gulps. Leo sees this skinny teen trying to slap Aya and he is not having it as he raises a paw up to Maddie's chest and a blast of aura erupts from it as he uses Force Palm. Leaving the cocky teen with a bruised chest and a bruised back while Maddie crumbles to the ground as he is knocked out.

At her trainer's command, Airazor flies around John and reaches the Geodude's flank as she comes up next to the Pichu's right. Airazor tries to dive bomb the Geodude but comes short in her dive and misses the Rock-Ground-Type. Seeing Airazor missing her target the wild Pichu once again starts smacking the Geodude with his tiny tail with Tail Whip. The Geodude groans in annoyance as his defense drops.

“That's it team! You almost got him now! Brisby, Quick Attack once more! Airazor blast him with Sand Attack! Monarch hold right there and be ready for the Geodude!" John orders out as he cheers.

“You stupid dog! You knocked out my friend! Geodude use tackle on the rat!" Tyler yells out as he runs up to Leo's right as he throws a rock-shattering punch. His fist strikes the Lucario in the face but Leo barely flinches as his glare turns towards the brawling trainer as his punch did little damage to him. Tyler at this point realizes his mistake as he holds his hand up.

“S-sorry? Um, n-nice puppy?" Tyler stutters out while he tries not to soil his pants. At this point Rascal steps up to the Geodude before he lunges at the Rock Pokemon, hitting him with all of his might in his tackle attack, cracking the Geodude's rocky hide while sending him flying back 6 feet where the Geodude lands in a heap, fainted. With that Tyler quickly recalls his last Pokemon back into its Pokeball.

“Okay, okay I give! I give!" Tyler calls out, Leo's eyes lock on to Tyler, his fierce and determined presence sends a clear message to Tyler while he stumbles back at the gravity of his and his friend's action. In a despite attempt to appease and avoid further harm to himself and his friend he quickly pulls out his wallet and pulls out a large amount of Poke as he hands it over towards John, who is walking over him.

“H-here, take this! It's double what we promised, Maddie's share too! Just. . . please don't let that Lucario come any closer!" Tyler begs out of fear.

“Thanks, Tyler, next time, think twice before you try attacking other Trainer's Pokemon just so you can win," John says as he takes the money.

“It's okay Leo, they are not going to hurt us now," Aya says as she pets the Lucario. Leo's fierce gaze reverts back to his gentle and protective look as he turns back towards Aya as his tail wags.

“I promise! Next time we battle someone it won't be dirty!" Tyler stummers before he walks over to his friend, picking him up and carrying him over his shoulder before he runs off as fast as he can in the direction of Pewter City.

“Well that was one intense battle," said John as the wild Pichu falls onto his rear, tired and sore from fighting alongside the human that protected him back in the Viridian forest. John's Pokedex pings alerting him that Airazor and Blaze learned new attacks but his attention is quickly on Monarch as his shell starts to crack in the back and light pours out from his back. The green coloring of his shell starts to fade into gray as a ball of light emerges out of the Metapod's back before a pair of wings unfurl from the ball of light. The light quickly fades as a semi-anthropomorphic purple, butterfly-like Pokemon appears from the now empty shell with light blue, hands, feet, and snout with two tiny fangs, a pair of black antennae, round red compact eyes, and two pairs of white wings with black venation.

“Oh wow! Monarch just evolved!" John cheered out

“Really?" Aya asks as she pulls out her Pokedex and points it towards Monarch as he flutters about, screeching happily.

Butterfree: The Butterfly Pokemon. The final evolved form of Caterpie. It's Wings are protected by a rain-repellent dust. As a result, this Pokemon can fly even through the rain.

As John congrats Monarch for evolving his gaze turns to the wild Pichu as he looks back and forth between Aya and John.

“You've been following me since Viridian Forest, haven't you?" John ask. The Pichu nods his head with a “Pichu".

“Excuse me John but I thought I heard you say that you saved that Pichu before?" asked Aya. John relays the story of how he saved this Pichu from being outnumbered by multiple Weedle and how he caught Dizzy.

“I think I caught his interest and he's been following me," explained John. Aya moves towards the Pichu with Leo's help guiding her to the tiny mouse Pokemon before she kneels down and holds her hand out to the Pichu.

“Thank you for helping us with that battle," said Aya as she smiles at the Pichu. The wild Pichu looks up at Aya with a curious look on his face before looking over to John.

“She's a friend of mine," said John, The Pichu looks back to Aya before he cautiously approached Aya's hand. He sniffs her palm, lets out a happy “Chu" and gently nuzzles her hand.

“You're a brave little one ain't you? How would like to join my team and travel with us?" Aya asks. The wild Pichu lets out a cheerful “Pichu!" before jumping into her arms.

“I told you, you will have a 'Chu of your own soon," said John.

“He is so cute! I think I'll call him Jason. How does that sound?" Aya asks while petting and hugging the Pichu. The Pichu lets out a happy “Pichu Pi!".

“Jason it is," Aya says happily before pulling a Pokeball out of her bag and gently taps the Pichu with it. Jason is sucked into the ball and it insistently clicks with a green light.

“We should get going, Dizzy is knocked out and a few of our Pokemon have injuries," John points out, He looks up to see the position of the sun in the sky before he looks back down at her. “If we leave now and keep a study pace we should reach the Pokemon Center before sunset."

“Good call, I think Rascal hurt his knee and has a bruise on his head," Aya says as she gently pets the Munchlax who in turn flinches from where he hit his head on the rock. Soon John and Aya return all of their Pokemon, with the exception of Leo, back into their Pokeballs and continue east towards Mount Moon.

It was about later in the afternoon when the pair finally arrived at the Pokemon Center. Upon entering there was indeed construction going on as one of the walls is undergoing repairs.

“It looks like our Frankensteined Machoke was here," John said while he looked over what he could see of the damage that was being repaired. It indeed looked like someone or something smashed through the wall. Much like the holes he saw back at the Pewter City Museum.

“You should get looked at too, Leo told me that you fainted during that battle," said Aya.

“How did Leo tell you?" asked John.

“He's trained to let me know if something bad happens if someone I know gets knocked or is hurt badly," said Aya.

“Yeah I got bang up pretty badly back there, I'm going to let the Nurse take a look at me," said John while feeling the bruise on his side and flinches.

Both John and Aya check in with the nurse at the front desk. Aya has all of her Pokemon and Leo get checked up while John is taken to the back alone with his own Pokemon, leaving Aya alone for two hours before her own Pokemon was returned to her and John not too long after. It took another half hour longer for John to receive his own Pokemon given that Airazor had more injuries than the others.

The two then set off to the cafe, with their Pokemon already fed by the nurse and her Chansey staff Aya treats John to dinner. Aya gets a Ham and cheese sandwich and a lemon-lime soda while John gets a bowl of udon noodles in a miso broth with a melon-flavored soda before they are shown to their room. There are not that many trainers staying at the Pokemon Center and so the rumor pool is pretty much dead.

“Huh, there's literally no trainers in the lobby tonight. I wonder if there is a party?" asked John

“Um, John, I think it's because there are no trainers here because of the Machoke attacks. You did say it looked like it was here earlier," pointed out Aya. Feeling stupid and embarrassed by it John lets out an “Oh yeah," before Aya and Leo fall over anime style.

“So what's the plan since we are here at the base of Mount Moon?" asked Aya.

“Well since we have no trainers around here to get any ideas off where we should start first I think we should search around Mount Moon until we find some clues on where that Machoke is staying and how we can beat it," said John.

“That kinda sounds a little reckless don't you think?" asked Aya

“I know but we really don't have any choice at the moment other than doing it the old-fashioned way," John points out.

“I guess you are right. Oh, on the way here I did find this with my cane," Aya said as she dug into her bag and pulled out a bottle of Potion.

“And Kate found this for John John!" All of a sudden Kate zooms out from behind John scaring both him and Aya.

“Gah! Kate don't do that!" John yells out.

“Oh oh is John playing the yelling game?! Kate is really good at the yelling game!" Kate says before the Mew starts screaming.

“Okay, okay you won Kate! Now what did you find?" Asked John while yelling over the screaming Mew.

“Oh Kate got this for you, Kate thinks it could be mysterious wonders!" Kate said before she placed the item that she was holding in John's hands.

“Um, Kate this is candy wrapper," John says while holding out the piece of trash.

“Mysterious wonders. . . . . ." Kate says very dramatic while waving her paws in the air. “So what John John and Aya face doing?"

“We're trying to come up with a plan to find a Machoke that has been causing problems," said Aya.

“Ooooooh, have you tried cracking the code?" Kate asks

“What code?" asked John

“You know, the code! Oh oh, have you tried hacking? Kate likes it when the spy guys do all the hacking!" Kate says excitedly

“Um, Kate we are not in a spy movie," said Aya.

“Well, Kate is pretty sure that Kate's friends will make it out alive," Kate cheers.

“That's it. I'm putting her in a Pokeball," said John while reaching into his bag. All of a sudden, Kate smacked John in the head and yelled out, “Bad touch!" before teleporting away.

“What a strange Mew," said Aya

“Yeah no kidding," John says with an annoyed huff. With evening upon them, the two head off into the public bathrooms to change into their PJs before turning in for bed.

The next morning it's a clear day as John and Aya take the opportunity to use the Pokemon Center's facilities to wash up and spend some time training their Pokemon. Sparks and Jason seem to know each other as they both happily greet each other before they start play fighting with the other Pokemon as part of their morning training. After 2 hours of training, John and Aya leave the Pokemon Center and start to hike up Mount Moon. The two only traveled along the trail that many trainers have taken for a good hour before the common trail ends, leaving them to travel up the mountain by their own judgment.

“Please tell me we are not lost already," Aya groans while Leo gives out a grunt.

“No, besides I think I just spotted something up ahead," John runs up ahead, around dodging brushes before he comes across a tree. “Check it out. Some of the bark here looks like it was scraped off!"

With Leo's help, Aya approaches John and feels the tree's trunk. Just as John said, a large section of the tree's bark is missing, feeling the now exposed wood. She can also feel small, narrow gashes in different spots of the wood.

“You're right, It feels like someone or something cut the bark out," says Aya, she thinks hard as she spent the night on her Pokedex looking over known local Pokemon on Mount Moon, “I don't think any of the Pokemon that make the mountain their home would do this to a tree. It seems too high for a Sandshrew to scrape off bark like this, and wild Paras are only known to chew on tree roots. Not bark."

“Think it's our Franken-buddy?" asked John.

“It might be, no regular Pokemon would do this," said Aya.

“Then that means we are on the right track," says John confidently. Not even a few feet away John would spot another clue, and another. John follows the faint trail they found with Aya and Leo right behind him as they continue up the mountain with the sun rising higher in the sky while they navigate the rough, rocky forest terrain. There is a sense of serene ambiance by the sounds of small wild animals and Pokemon but the thought of the Machoke wandering up here, wrecking havoc on other trainers helps keep John and Aya focused on their goal of stopping this unstoppable Pokemon. By 10 am John stops in his tracks making Leo and Aya stop as well.

“What is it, John?" Aya asks.

“There's a cave up ahead with some plants covering the opening, but it looks like something could be going in and out of it. There's an opening in between the plants and the dirt looks like something has been walking across it over and over again, and they don't look like Clefairy tracks either," says John

“Think that's the Machoke's lair?" asked Aya.

“Maybe, but there's only one way to find out and hope that he is not in there," John says before they start moving forward. As John pulls the overgrowth aside, he sees that the cave is tall and wide and goes in deep, but he also sees working lights attached to the ceiling.

“That's odd, someone lit up the cave. There are bright lightbulbs hanging from the cave ceiling," says John while they walk further in.

“But why would someone do that?" asked Aya. They only walk into the cave for 10 minutes before two men wearing black clothing step up to them.

“Hold it kids, this tunnel access is off limits to the public right now," says the first man.

“How come?" asks John

“The Pewter City Museum is doing research on the rock formations in the caves," said the second man.

“Huh, that's odd I didn't know the Museum was conducting research on Mount Moon right now," says Aya, however, Leo starts growling at the two men. “Huh, what's wrong Leo?"

“Hey get you're damn Lucario under control, kid!" yelled out the first man.

“Yeah, you gotta leave right now," said the second man.

“I'm sorry but Leo doesn't seem to like you for some reason, there must be something in your aura that he doesn't like," Aya points out. All of a sudden Leo pulls away from her side and stands in front of her in a guard stance. Seeing how Leo is acting Aya starts to feel that something is off.

“John what are they wearing?" asked Aya.

“Huh, why do you wanna know?" John asks

“Gees kid, what we are wearing is not impotent. What really does matter is that you are not allowed in here," says the second man as he is starting to get annoyed.

“John, please it does matter," says Aya.

“Okay, they are wearing white boots, white belts, white gloves, black pants, black berets, and a black shirt with a large red R on them," John says out loud.

“Those men don't work for the Museum! What are you really doing here?" Aya cries out.

“Damn it! How did you know you little brat?!" the second man yells out as both men walk backwards about a few feet.

“My mom works for the Museum, no one there wears the clothing that you do," says Aya.

“I told you we should have worn different clothes and not just rely on the stupid overgrowth to cover our asses!" the first man yells at the other.

“It doesn't matter now, now we have to deal with these kids and take them out, and maybe we can sell off their Pokemon as well," says the second man as he smiles an evil grin. Both he and his partner throw out Pokeballs and releasing a Rattata and a Zubat respectfully. In return, John and Aya both call out both of their Pichu's with Sparks appearing in front of John and Jason appearing next to Leo.

As soon as Spark materializes from her ball the Rocket Grunt's Zubat screeches out a Supersonic attack towards her. Sparks quickly covers her large ears to try to block out the sound only to muffle it. The little Pichu was able to strife off becoming confused but the high-pitched sound hurt her ears enough to make her hearing ring. Despite the ringing in her ears, Sparks quickly retaliates with a Thunder Shock, dealing massive damage to the Zubat, singeing his fur. At the same time, the Rocket Rattata rushes toward Jason and tackles him with a great amount of damage. Jason is sent flying back 6 feet away past Aya, landing on his shoulder and bruising it as he cries out. He quickly rolls back onto his hind feet next to Aya before releasing a Thunder Shock of his own, hitting the Rattata head-on, and dealing a good amount of damage to it.

John quickly takes out a second Pokeball and calls out Blaze. The Charmander appearing about six feet away from his trainer and in front of the Zubat on its left.

“Go Blaze! Help us defeat these bad guys with Ember! Sparks keep at it! Use Thunder Shock!" John says as he calls out to his Pokemon.

“Zubat stop playing games and deal with these kids! Use Leech Life on that Charmander!" the first Rocket grunt yells out, he then turns his attention away from the battle as he looks back into the cave and yells out, “HEY!!! WE GOT INTRUDERS OVER HERE!!!"

“Hit that Pichu hard with your Quick Attack, Rattata! Knock it out!" the second grunt yells out as he walks around his Pokemon, smiling an evil grin as he cracks his knuckles while Leo watches him closely. The grunt mutters to himself, “Like taking candy from a baby."

Deep into the cave, five more Team Rocket Grunts heard the first grunt's call. Right away four of them quickly drew out their Pokeballs and calls out a Sandshrew, a Geodude, a Koffing, and a Machop respectively as they all start to make their way towards the battle that their two comrades are in. Panicking, Aya quickly grabs Rascal's Pokeball and calls out the Munchlax as he materializes between the Rattata and Jason.

“Rascal use Amnesia. Jason use Charm." Aya orders out to her Pokemon as her voice cracks in fear.

In the far back of the cave where the last Rocket Grunt, a commander, calls out one of his own Pokemon, an Ekans.

“Don't let those intruders get away!" the commander calls out to the rest of the grunts while one of the grunts' Sandshrew digs into the floor of the cave and tunnels towards our heroes.

Leo growls at the second grunt as he stands firm, willing to protect Aya with his life. His aura flares brilliantly, casting a silvery glow throughout the cave. The air seems to ripple around him as ghostly swords, shimmering with raw energy, materialize and spin in a hypnotic dance around him.

The second grunt's Rattata seeing his target blocked, slams into Rascal before any other Pokemon can react. Dealing a little damage to the Munchlax. The first grunt's Zubat swoops down on Blaze, biting him. Its fangs sink into the Charmander while the Zubat drains Blaze's energy, healing itself a little as it does so. Blaze tries blasting the Zubat off of him with an Ember attack but the Zubat quickly flies back and the small licks of flame crash down on the cave floor as he misses but as the Zubat flies off Blaze, Sparks lets out another Thunder Shock, striking it with the super effective attack. The Zubat dives backwards and crashes against the ground as it faints.

“Alright, Spark!" John cheers out loud.

Jason, seeing the second grunt trying to move around the battle looks up at the grunt with big puppy dog eyes as he uses Charm.

“Aww, what a cute Chu, I'm gonna steal it for myself." the grunt says.

“Y-you can't take my Pichu!" Aya cries out.

John pulls out a third Pokeball and calls out Dizzy. The shiny Kakuna appearing right next to Blaze.

“We ain't out of this yet! Dizzy use String Shot on that bad man! Blaze, use Smokescreen to give us cover! Sparks go after that Rattata and use Thunder Shock!" John commanded.

“Why you little brat!" the first grunt growls as he races around Blaze and punches John in the face.

At the same time, the second Grunt sneaks up from behind Aya as he weaves to Aya's right, faking a jab to her side but he would come back up to her left with a left hook aimed for her head but in a flash, Leo pushes Aya to the side, making sure that she doesn't fall to the ground as he takes the hit for her. The punch doing little damage to the Lucario.

“Grr, you stupid mutt!" the grunt yells at Leo.

As the other grunts come closer and closer to the battle, Rascal stares at the Rattata before him as he tilts his head and forgets how to manage his footing.

“Leo, are you okay?" Aya cried out as she heard the grunt's gloved hand thunk against the Lucario's head. Leo gives Aya a happy bark to confirm that he is fine. “Don't let that man take you and Jason away! R-rascal! Use Tackle!, Jason use Thunder Shock!"

The commander in the back listening closely to the battle that's going on, on the other side of the cave pulls out a second Pokeball and calls out his own Zubat.

“Go, aid those idiots up there!" the commander demands before the Zubat flies off.

Leo would then bring his paws together, using his aura to form a Bone Rush club and bash it against the side of the second grunt's face, leaving a large bruise against his cheek as the grunt spits out a bloody tooth. Leo growling that would say “Stay away from my trainer,"

Dizzy, turns to face the grunt that just punched her trainer before she releases a cone of Kakuna silk and the grunt is wrapped in a light laying a sticking silk, hindering his movement. Blaze takes a deep breath before blasting out a cloud of black smoke. Breathing out about 5 meters away from where it forms a cloud of cover about 30 square meters. Sparks's own cheeks sparks as she glares at the first grunt, she lets out an angry “Pichuuuuu" as she shocks the grunt with a Thunder Shock attack, dealing decent damage to him. His muscles spasms as sparks run across his body feeling that the Pichu has Paralyzed him. The Rocket Rattata moves to stand in between Sparks, Jason, Rascal, Leo, and Aya and wags his tail to perform Tail Whip taking them all off guard.

Jason, seeing that the Rocket Rattatas moved around his chubby ally, unleashes a Thunder Shock attack onto the mouse Pokemon. Dealing a lot of damage and singeing two patches of its fur. The Rattata is starting to not look too good. As John recovers from being punched, delivers a right high hook to the first grunt himself as spit flies from the grunt's mouth.

“Sparks use Thunder Shock again! Blaze stop the closest Rocket guy from getting closer! Dizzy use String Shot once again!" John calls out.

The second grunt Leers at Leo and Rascal trying to imitate them both as he calls out to his Rattata, “Tackle attack that girl!!!"

Before the Rattata can act on its master's orders, Rascal slams his belly against the Mouse Pokemon, sending the small Normal-Type flying towards John who smacks it down to the ground where it lays fainted.

“Good job Rascal, don't let them get you. Jason use Thunder Shock!" Aya says as she disengages away from the second grunt and hides behind Leo. The first grunt groans in frustration while his muscles seize up as he finds that he can't move. Leo on the other hand has had enough of the second grunt hounding his trainer as he thrust his paw against the Rocket grunt, in less than a second as soon as Leo's paw pad made contact with the red “R" on the grunt's shirt did it erupted with a blast of aura as Leo uses Force Palm on the man, nearly knocking him back to the entrance of the cave and knocking the man out. Sensing the approach of another Rocket grunt coming, Leo steps around Jason and Rascal to put himself between him and Aya.

Dizzy lets out a skittering sound as she sprays out a cone of silk to the first grunt. Covering him in even more of the sticky threads as he is nearly cocooned himself. Blaze runs around the smoke-covered area to see the closet grunt is about to reach his friends and trainer while Sparks strikes the first grunt with another Thunder Shock, the Grunt's Rocket uniform is starting to look crispy as well as a couple of patches of skin. Jason's ears twitch as he hears Blaze moving away. Feeling that there might be more threats on the way moves around Rascal in hopes of catching up to the Charmander to join him. John tries to punch the first grunt again but the man manages to move just enough that John misses his strike.

“Sparks, go with Blaze, Dizzy use Poison Sting!" John orders out.

“Oh look at the little Charmander trying to be a hero!" says the third grunt as he rushes towards Blaze, trying to kick the Charmander in the head but Blaze ducks under the man's foot. “Think you are tough stuff aye? Well, you won't be once you're buried six feet under you stupid lizard!"

Hearing the man yelling, Rascal decides to join his teammate Jason to back up Blaze as he slowly moves as fast as he can. Aya however kneels to one knee as she lays her hand against the cave's cold floor, closing her milky eyes as she focuses on feeling vibrations moving. Her eyes suddenly snap open as she picks up on something.

“John! Something is coming towards Blaze underground. It's about 16 feet away and closing!" Aya shouts out as she warns her friend.

“Got it! Blaze stay alert of the ground as well as your surroundings!" John calls out.

“Rascal, Sparks! You do the same as well. These are bad people." Aya cries out

“You idiots! You're letting children beat you!" the commander yells out to his men before looking down at his Ekins. “Go help them and eat those kids Pokemon to teach them a lesson!"

Meanwhile, Ace and Typhoon are standing over several Rocket grunts who were rendered unconscious by the Latios's psychic powers and quickly cuffed and their legs bound and tape put over their mouths to keep them from alerting those that might be scattered across the mountain range, they where guarding an entrance to the warehouse. Ace turns and closes his eyes his dreads standing on end as he uses his aura sight to scan the battlefield where John and his friends are fighting. After assessing the situation he opens his eyes and looks at Typhoon.

"Go back to Ashley and the others and tell them what we found, that there is a cave system a click near here and that civilians have engaged in a battle with the Rocket grunts. Tell them we need backup now to secure this site." He speaks all of this in a terse whisper and Typhoon responds with just as quiet a voice.

"You got it bro I'll be back with the boss lady and the others ASAP." Typhoon is an accomplished law enforcement Pokemon and skilled fighter but when they're off the clock his personality gives off the vibe of a surfer or skater you would find on the Unoven coastline. He quickly turns and flies back down the long passage at incredible speed while maintaining his stealth. Ace for his part turns back around and assesses the situation deciding it would be best not to traumatize the kids with the after-effects of what a 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun can do. He deftly spins the shotgun once in his paw sliding it into a Scabbard on his back before running off towards their direction.

Back at the cave, all of a sudden the Sandshrew burst from the ground on Blaze's right, swiping its claws at where it thought Blaze would be but missed its attack however, the Sandshrew now finds itself inside the cloud of smoke that the Charmander created. For a brief moment, the first grunt finds himself able to move as he jerks his leg towards John, getting his attention to a possible kick before the grunt slams a first down over John's head. John cries out as he feels a lump forming on his scalp as he falls face forward from the blow, his face scraping against the rough floor of the cave.

Dizzy lets out an angry skittering noise as she lets out a barrage of venomous needles. Nailing the grunt in the back while the needles dig deep into his skin. The man's skin turns purple as he falls to his side and faints. Blaze turns towards the Sandshrew and tries to growl at it but he inhales a bit of his smoke from the smoke screen and coughs. Sparks quickly gets ahead of Rascal and Jason and takes cover behind a rock. Jason however catches up to Sparks and moves around the rock to see the third rocket grunt glaring down at the Charmander six feet away from him. Jason's cheeks let out a spark before he unleases a Thunder Shock, striking the grunt and charring a small patch of skin on the man.

“Blaze, use Smokescreen to spread out more cloud cover! Dizzy go help Blaze and use Harden! Sparks Cover Blaze with Thunder Shock!" John orders out as he runs to the north side of Blaze's smoke cloud before yelling at the approaching grunts, “Hey you nitwits I'm over here! Come and get me!"

“Don't get so cocky! Sanshrew use Poison Sting on the Charmander!" the third grunt yells out, he swings a fist towards Blaze but the Charmander ducks underneath the man's punch. “Hold still, you stupid fucking lizard!" the grunt swears as the fourth grunt runs through the corner of the smoke cloud, coughing as he breathes in the black smoke and stands before John on the other end. As the other grunts also get closer to the main battle, The Machop heads straight first into the smoke cloud that Blaze created. Rascal runs past Sparks and comes up from behind Blaze before slamming his full weight against the Sandshrew dealing a massive amount of damage. The Sandshrew is jerked back and forth as it pushed back three feet further into the smoke cloud, giving it whiplash. It tries to ball up into a ball to reduce the impact from landing on the ground but it was not expecting to slam hard against a large rock. It slides down the surface of the rock with now both its neck and back in pain.

“Jason, keep your distance and cover Blaze with Thunder Shock. Rascal uses Amnesia again." Aya calls out from behind Leo as he continues to stand guard over her. The commander glares at his own men, while the Sandshrew stumbles about in the smoke cloud as it can't tell which way its opponents are. Dizzy's hard cacoon shell glimmers as it grows harder. The shiny cacoon Pokemon then begins to make her way into the smoke cloud. Blaze takes a deep breath and breathes out a plum of black smoke increasing the smoke cloud's mass to where he, Rascal, John, the third, fifth, and sixth grunt are engulfed in the smoke.

Sparks moves around Jason and unleashes a Thunder Shock towards the third grunt, but her attack misses as the smoke makes it harder for her to aim her attack as the commander's Zubat flies into the smoke as well. Jason seeing his follow Pichu miss her attack, tries to carefully aim his own Thunder Shock attack at the same grunt. His attack hits and deals a good amount of damage to the grunt leaving him another electrical burn mark on the man's skin. John stumbles in the smoke heading towards his Pokemon when he notices the Machop behind the rock a few feet away.

“Blaze use Ember on the Machop on your three o'clock, Dizzy use Poison Sting, Sparks use Tail Whip!" John orders out beginning to cough on the smoke his Charmander created.

“Sandshrew what the fuck are you doing?! The brat's Pokemon is the other way! Use Rollout!" the third grunt yells out to his Pokemon. The grunt then fakes to throw a punch towards Blaze but he throws the Charmander off by kicking him instead, leaving a bruise on the Charmander's chest while dealing a good amount of damage to Blaze as he cries out in pain. As the fourth grunt runs into the smoke, the fifth grunt now having lost sight of John due to said smoke cover, he stumbles to his right for a few feet before he kicks the same large rock that his team mate's Machop is next to all the while the sixth grunt also stumbling around before running smack into a giant stalagmite. Not sure where the attack will be coming from, the Machop moves about 3 feet towards the northwest, thinking that he stepped away from an incoming attack. Meanwhile while standing behind Blaze, Rascal tilts his head to the side as he forgets how to keep his balance.

“Keep it up guys, Jason keep covering Blaze and Sparks. Rascal use Tackle." Aya orders out.

“You knuckles head! Why haven't any of you brought a Pokemon that knows Defog?!" Yells out the commander.

“Why didn't you sir?!" yelled out the sixth grunt.

“Well because I... Sh-shut up, that's why!" yelled out the Commander.

The Sandshrew believing he is heading in the right direction wonders towards the northwest.

Dizzy however notices the Sandshrew moving away from Blaze, she moves 3 feet to her right and fires a barge of venomous needles towards the Sandshrew, nailing him in his side however the attack is not very effective and deals little damage to the Mouse Pokemon. Blaze looks to where John called out before he flings out small embers of flames from his tail flame towards his northwest. Nailing the Machop from 4 meters away with the fire attack, dealing a decent amount of damage to him. Sparks runs behind the third grunt but stays out of the smoke cloud, she then wags her tail and smacks it against the Grunt's ankle, making him jump and catching him off guard.

“What the hell?!" the third grunt yells out. The Commander's Zubat however flies up to Blaze and Rascal, it halts midair, its wings snapped shut before it doves down to Rascal. A high-pitched screech burst from its tiny body as it flared its wings wide, twisting into a nightmarish silhouette however, the Astonish attack had no effect on the Munchlax as he looked towards the bat with a confused look. Jason's cheeks sparks like fireworks, he then lets out a determined squeak as he releases another Thunder Shock attack with a crackling burst. Despite the smoke cloud, the Pichu was able to nail the third grunt in the chest as the bolt of electricity arced through the air. The grunt yelling out in pain as his hair stood on its ends. The Grunt is starting not to look so good.

“Dizzy use Poison Sting on the Sandshrew. Sparks, Thunder Shock that Zubat! Blaze use Ember on Machop again!" John coughs as he orders out.

“Damn it Sandshrew! You're still going the wrong way you useless piece of shit!" the third Grunt yells out as he tries to kick Blaze yet again however the Charmander rolls under his attack as the man stumbles in pain. As the fourth grunt walks around the Sandshrew, hearing John's shouts, the fifth grunt runs up to John, punching him in the face with a right hook, splitting John's lip as the Ace Trainer is not looking good. As the Koffing floats closer and closer to the battle, the Machomp stumbles to his south, passing by the Koffing and the Sandshrew, still lost in the smoke cloud.

As Rascal starts to move around Blaze, the Zubat hears the opportunity to attack the Munchlax as it smacks its wing against the back of Rascal's head, dealing a decent amount of damage. As Rascal steps out of the smoke cloud, the Munchlax leers towards the grunt in front of Blaze before charging the man and slamming his whole body weight into him. Dealing a lot of damage as the grunt is sent flying back and landing on his Sandshrew. The Mouse Pokemon manges to push its trainer off of him to see the man has fainted with a twisted ankle and a gash on his head, which most likely from hitting his head on a rock when he fell on the Ground-Type, which goes to say that the Sandshrew didn't come out unscathed itself as it too is starting to not look so good.

“Good job Rascal, now use Amnesia, Jason keep Rascal and Blaze covered," Aya calls out as Leo gives Aya indications that Rascal just knocked out another bad guy.

“You Idiots! Do I have to do everything!" The commander yells out as he takes out a third Pokeball and calls out a Geodude while pulling out what looks like a stick until it extends out and the end starts to spark with electricity.

With his Trainer down the Sandshrew tries to look around through the smoke cloud as its trainer is knocked out cold and has no idea what to do at the moment, stumbling back and forth while bumping into the Machop. While the Commander's Geodude moves up to a giant boulder, all of a sudden an aura sphere about the size of a cantaloupe slams into its back, violently slamming its face into the boulder. Its rocky body has a few cracks as the boulder itself violently cracking from the force. The Geodude slides down the cracked boulder, spitting out a few bloody teeth as it lays on the cave floor, fainted. From behind the commander, Ace the Lucario steps around a boulder, glaring at the commander.

Dizzy moves around the commander's Zubat, while it tries to smack her with its wing but misses. The Kakuna positions herself on top of the knocked out grunt as she fires a barrage of venomous needles towards the Sandshrew but her shot goes wide and her attack flies over the Sandshrew's head. All of a sudden, small balls of flames fly past Dizzy and hits the Rocket Machop as Blaze uses Ember, dealing a decent amount of damage to the Fighting-Type.

Sparks lets out a determined squeak as her cheeks spark and sends out an arc of electricity into the smoke cloud, nailing the commander's Zubat with a massive amount of damage. The Zubat of course gets mad about being shocked by the Pichu and flies around Blaze to try to sink its fangs into her but Sparks ducks below the Zubat's Leech Life attack. Jason moves to stand behind Sparks and Rascal and aims his own Thunder Shock attack at the Zubat that tried to bite his follow Pichu but the electric bolt goes wide and he misses. John quickly disengages from the Grunt that punches him and runs towards his Pokemon, stepping out of the smoke cloud. Next to the giant rock that Rascal is standing by.

“Blaze use Ember on the Zubat. Sparks use Thunder Shock on the Machop. Dizzy use Pioson Sting on the Sandshrew." John orders out.

“Damn it! Where's that Geodude of mine!" the fourth grunt yells out as he shifts his foot to kick Dizzy but faints the move as he suddenly ducks low and punches the Kakuna. Dealing decent damage to the Bug and Poison-Type Pokemon.

The fifth grunt now having lost sight of John, heads towards a random direction only to step out of the smoke cloud and right in front of Leo while the sixth grunt blindly follows John but is still lost on where the young trainer went to. The Koffing finally makes it behind Machop and Sandshrew as he prepares to belch out a cone of Poison Gas towards Dizzy but as he breaths in, he inhales the smoke from Blaze's Smokescreen and chokes, forcing him to spew out the poisonous gas from his carter like pores in a burst, catching the Machop and the Sandshrew in the blast as they both become poisoned.

The Machop however saw the light of Spark's attack and moves towards the source as he attempts to Karate Chop the Pichu. Sparks spins her body around the Machop's hand. The Machop groans as he feels its stomach churn and a spike of pain from the poison. Rascal tilts his head to the side as his footing becomes very unsteady, now having his special defense fully powered up. Leo gave Aya a signal that John is ruffed up as soon as John stepped out of the smoke.

“Oh no, John are you okay?" Aya asks as she carefully walks over to John, as her cane sweeping side to side to avoid tripping or walking into any object until she can feel John with her free hand.

“Yeah, I'm okay, just a cut lip," John replies.

“Leo told me you a look roughed up. Here, let me help you with that." Aya says as she pulls out

a potion before she carefully sprays John's face with it. John winces from the stinging of having the Potion spraying into his eyes blinding him for a half minute and the sting of his cut lip as the potion heals him.

“Thanks, Aya," said John.

“No problem, Rascal use Tackle, Jason use Thunder Shock," said Aya

“Where the fuck did you come from?! Wait you're a TPRG Pokemon!" the commander yells out as he spots Ace after the Lucario just knocked out his Geodude, Feeling enraged and not willing to be arrested so easily he rushes towards Ace with his Stun Baton raised.

“Fuck you, you Pokemon pig!!!" the command yells as he tries to swing with a furious strike but by his first swing, Ace japs a paw up to intercept the man's strike, the spike on the backhand side of his paw catch's the commander's weapon and snaps it in half. Rendering the weapon useless. The commander has a shocked, be-riddled, and pale look on his face as he mutters out a curse.

The Sandshrew finally turned its attention towards Dizzy as it felt the air and smoke move from her missed attack. It swings its claws with a Scratch attack and strikes Dizzy's shell, its claws cutting through her hard cacoon body. Ace, not looking happy at the commander before him brings the same paw that he used to break the man's weapon, and thrusts it into his face. A burst of aura erupts from the Lucario's paw in a Force Palm, knocking out a few of the man's teeth and breaking his nose as the man stands there on wobbling feet.

Leo now seeing the grunt that punched John raises his paw and strikes the fifth grunt in the chest with his own Force Palm, forcing the grunt to gasp in pain as a large bruise begins to form on his chest. Dizzy not feeling so good now tries to fire off another Poison Sting attack but her barrage of needles goes wide and misses the Sandshrew once again. Blaze looks to the Zubat, then to Machop, and then to the Zubat before he fires off an Ember attack to the commander's Zubat. The small balls of fire nail the Zubat before it falls out of the air and hits its head hard on the cave floor as it is knocked out.

Sparks, seeing the Zubat hitting the ground in the smoke turns towards the Machop and lets out a mighty “chu" before an arc of electricity flies through the smoke and strikes the fighting-type Pokemon. The Machop lets out s shriek as electrical burns form on its body before it falls face forward, knocked out. Meanwhile, Jason scampers about six feet to his left before he quietly lets his own Thunder Shock into the smoke cloud and hits the Koffing, dealing a decent amount of damage.

John peers into the smoke cloud and notices that his shiny Pokemon is not looking so good. He moves to take Jason's old spot behind Spark and Rascal before recalling Dizzy back into her Pokeball before he pulls out another and tosses it as far as he can into the smoke cloud. It soars over the fourth grunt's head before it lands a meter away behind the Sandshrew and Airazor appears out of the ball.

“Airazor keep your distance and use Gust on the Sandshrew! Sparks, Thunder Shock one of those Rocket guys! Blaze use Ember on Koffing!" John orders out

“It looks like I have to do everything myself if I have to move faster than that dumb rock!" the fourth grunt yells out as he steps around his downed ally and makes a quick sneaking palm thrust toward Sparks, hitting her hard, hoping to grab anything that the Pichu might be holding but only jerking out a clump of Pichu fur all the while Sparks lets a pained squeak as her cheeks spark and zaps the man. Electric strikes course over his body as he finds his muscles seizing up and twitching as the Pichu's Static ability paralyzes the Rocket Grunt.

The fifth rocket grunt faints a left hook before punching Leo with an uppercut to the face but it doesn't seem to hurt the Lucario all that much. The sixth grunt moves three feet towards Blaze but he doesn't seem to notice the Charmander or its glowing tail flame through the smoke cloud. Rascal moves in front of John and next to Sparks before throwing his entire body as he tackles the fourth Rocket grunt, dealing a ton of damage as the grunt flies back about three feet before he slams into the Koffing, hurting it as well, with the Koffing, Ekans, and Geodude wondering around lost in the smoke cloud.

“Jason use Charm, Rascal use Tackle," Aya orders out.

The commander curses out loud as he tosses his broken weapon to the side before he tries to punch Ace, but the Lucario easily sidesteps the attack. Sandshrew no longer sees its Bug-type target also wanders around aimlessly as it steps on top of its knocked-out trainer's body.

“You little fat fuck!" yells out the fourth grunt as he runs back over towards Rascal as he faints a right hook and kicks the Munchlax in the gut hard. Rascal gasps as he doubles over and a large bruise begins to form on his front. Ace suddenly thrusts a paw straight into the commander's face, knocking him onto his back Ace gets on top of the man and begins to ruthlessly beat the man up in a series of punches and kicks as he uses Close Combat. Ace then gets off the man, dusting his paws off while stepping over him, and starts to rush towards the main battle and pass the knocked-out Geodude, leaving the commander beaten to hell. His face left black and blue, a cut above his eyebrow, a cut on his left cheek, his lip spilt and missing a few teeth as he bleeds from his mouth.

Leo glares at the grunt in front of him before he brings his paw back and slams it against the Grunt's face before a blast of aura erupts from his paw and knocks the grunt to the ground, breaking his nose and a couple of teeth is knocked from his mouth as well as the grunt lays on the ground knocked out. Leo nods to the fainted grunt before he steps around the smoke cloud and stands between Aya and the main battle, ready to protect her.

Blaze moves six feet towards the north before he turns towards the direction of the Koffing as he lets out small fireballs from his tail flame as they travel about four meters and slams into the Koffing, dealing a decent amount of damage as the Koffing falls out of the air and crashes to cave floor, fainted. However, the glow of Blaze's Ember attack seems to catch Sparks attention as she becomes distracted by the glow traveling through the smoke cloud. Airazor's sharp eyes spots the Sandshrew through the smoke cloud. With a caw and a flap of her wings, Airazor sends out a blast of wind towards the Ground-Type, nailing it in its back, sending the Sandshrew falling off its trainer. Smacking its face on the cave floor bruising it as a bruise begins to form on its back as it lays fainted.

Jason tries to look cute towards the fourth grunt but the man can't see the Pichu through the smoke and thus the Pichu's Charm attack fails. John rushes towards Sparks's side and swings a fist towards the same grunt but his punch only cuts through the smoke.

“Blast, Sparks use Thunder Shock!, Blaze turn around and hit the guy with Scratch. Airazor use gust!" John orders out.

The sixth grunt have seen the glow of Blaze's attack swings to kick at the Charmander but his foot misses. Rascal having enough of the grunt. Jumps forward, using his full body weight to slam into the fourth grunt in front of him. Dealing a decent amount of damage to the man, leaving a bruise on the man's torso as the grunt flies back about six feet, nearly landing on the knocked-out Koffing while twisting his ankle and smacks the back of his head hard on the cave floor and faints. Leo gives Aya a series of barks and a pulse of aura, before Aya lets out a gasp.

“Oh no poor Rascal," says Aya as she rushes over to Rascal, pulling out a potion and spraying him with it, healing the Munchlax for a decent amount.

“There, feel better?" Aya asks. “Muuuunch" Rascal says as turns to face Aye with a happy cry and a big smile. “That's good, now let's see... Rascal, I think Blaze needs help. Go back him up. You two Jason just don't get too close." Aya ordered out.

Leo follows Aya, taking his spot next to Rascal to put himself between the last grunt and Aya while giving her a few barks and nudging her towards the northwest.

“There's two more Pokemon that way?" Aya asks. Leo gives her a confirmed bark.

“Thank you, Leo. John, Leo says there's two more Pokemon that way," Aya says as she points towards the Geodude and the Ekans.

“Got it!" John says as he nods.

Blaze turns around and tries to swing his claws at the grunt behind him but all his claws cut is the smoke surrounding them, missing his mark. Sparks cheeks start to spark as she steps into the smoke cloud before she lets out a mighty “Chu!", an arch of electricity flies through the smoke and strikes the last grunt, dealing a decent amount of damage. Airazor looks towards the west and notices the Ekans through the smoke. The Pidgey then flaps her wings but her wing power is not strong enough to launch her attack. Airazor also notices the Geodude near her and decides to fly 9 feet towards John to keep her distance from the Rock-Ground-Type.

Jason scampers over the knocked-out bodies of the Machop and Sandshrew, his cheeks sparks with electricity as he jumps up in the air and unleashes his Thunder Shock attack. Nailing the grunt with his electrical power and singeing the man's clothes and hair while dealing a decent amount of damage to him.

“Sparks, Airazor, Go after the Pokemon northwest from me and use Thunder Shock and Gust. Blaze disengage from that guy and use Ember!" John orders out.

“Disengage this!" the last grunt yells out as he stomps on Blaze. The Charmander cries out in pain as the Rocket grunt deals a decent amount of damage to the Lizard Pokemon, two bruises begin to form on the Charmander's back and arm as Blaze is starting to not look so good. Hearing Blaze's yelp of pain Rascal rushes into the smoke cloud and slams his entire body weight into the grunt for a Tackle attack, slamming into the man's lower torso, dealing a massive amount of damage as the man is sent flying six feet back as he bounces on his shoulder, dislocating it before skidding across the cave floor, scraping his face and his knees as his pants tears from the friction before the final grunt lays unconscious.

“Good job Rascal, Now go help with those two Pokemon to the northwest, you too Jason. Use tackle and Thunder Shock," Aya says as Leo alerts her of Rascal knocking out the bad man.

As Ace runs towards the smoke cloud he brings his paws togather and starts charging up a ball of aura before throwing it at the Ekans inside the smokescreen. Nailing it in the face as two of the snake Pokemon's fangs fly out. The Poison-Type Pokemon's type may have resisted the Lucario's attack but it still took a massive amount of damage. Now pissed off the Ekans slithers out of the smoke cloud and towards the approaching Lucario as it hisses and lunches out a barrage of venomous needles. However, the Snake Pokemon looks shocked as the needles just bounce off the Ace's body.

Blaze, feeling sore limps around Sparks and Airazor as he makes his way towards John. While Sparks and Jason go to chase after the Ekans side by side, Airazor flies about three feet to the north, flaps her wings, and sends out a powerful guest of wind towards the Geodude, nailing him in the back as he wonders around lost in the smoke cloud, though resisting the flying type attack, Airazor's Gust did a decent amount of damage. Seeing how hurt Blaze is, John recalls the Chamander back into his Pokeball before pulling out another and tossing it six meters out into the smoke cloud towards the Gedude where Brisby appears right next to it.

“Brisby use Focus Energy, Airazor, back her up with Sand Attack!" John orders out.

Noticing the Flash of Light Geodude slams its rocky body into the Rattata as she appears, dealing a decent amount of damage as Brisby is sent flying back by six feet while the Geodude follows her. Seeing his electric teammate on the move through the smoke, Rascal begins to slowly follow the Pichus as well.

“Rascal go help Brisby, stop that Pokemon from hurting her too badly, please," Aya calls out.

While Ace sees the Ekans rushing to meet him, he unsheathes his Katana and in a flash slashes at the Ekans. Ace holds still in front of the snake before he stands straight up, sheathing his Katana away as multiple cuts appear on the Ekans's scales before the Poison-Type collapses to the cave floor, fainted. Brisby quickly gets back up and turns to face the Geodude as her body glows and focuses on her power. Seeing Brisby being accosted by the Rocket Geodude, Sparks lets out a mighty “Piiiichuuuu" as she unleashes a powerful Thunder Shock attack. It hits the Geodude but nothing happens as the Geodude is immune to the Pichu's attack. Airazor quickly flies towards the Geodude but keeps a six-foot distance away from the Rock-Ground-Type as she flaps her wing to kick up some sand but all she can do is make the smoke twirl around her. Jason however seeing how Sparks's Thunder Shock had no effect on the living rock, runs around her and comes up on the Geodude's flank and swings his little tail, however, his Tail Whip missed its mark as the Geodude does not notice.

“Brisby use Quick Attack! Airazor, use Guest! Sparks use Charm!" John calls out.

Feeling the wind of Jason's tail whipping at him the Geodude lunges towards the male Pichu in a Tackle attack but Jason quickly dodges out of the way from being hit as Rascal comes up from behind him.

“Jason you use Charm too, Rascal get close enough to use Tackle" Aya calls out.

Before any of John's or Aya's Pokemon can react, moving faster than even Brisby's Quick Attack, a ball of aura slices through the smoke and slams into the Geodude. The Rock Pokemon cries out in pain as multiple cracks appeared on its body and a few teeth flew out of its mouth before it collapsed in a heap knocked out. Ace had thrown that Aura Sphere. Rather than throwing it like normal, he had swung his arm to violently throw it like he was pitching a grenade rather than tossing it, he used a small Force Palm to add extra velocity to his attack aiming Square for the Geodude's head. As the smoke finally clears John can see just how many foes they took out, together.

“Holy molly! Look at all the bad guys we took down together! We're truly are adventuring heroes now!" John says with excitement. As he recalls Airzaor back into her Pokeball, Dizzy suddenly pops out of her's. John can see the clear gash her hardened body received during the battle, but to John's surprise, the gash starts glowing as her cocoon body starts to lose its colors. The glowing starts to intensify while both Sparks and Jason both starts glow as well. The Two Pichus begin to grow 4 inches taller, their triangle-shaped ears begin to shift into more slimmer ears and their short tails grow longer into a familiar thunderbolt shape with Sparks's tail ending in a heart-shaped tip. The glowing from Dizzy's gash starts to form into a bigger shape, with a pair of insect-like wings, long legs, and long arms with long, conical stingers. As the glow fades away it's revealed that Jason and Sparks have both become Pikachus and Dizzy is now a green shiny Beedrill.

“Pika! Pika!" Jason happily calls out as he jumps into Aya's arms.

“Oh my! Jason, you evolved!" Aya cheers happily and she cuddles the Mouse Pokemon as he nuzzles her back.

“It's so cool! Sparks and Dizzy evolved too but.... where did that Lucario come from?" John asks while Ace goes to handcuff one of the nearby knocked-out grunts while examining the man's gear.

“You kids got off lucky, these are low-level grunts. They don't even have any weapons let alone more than one Pokemon partner," says Ace as he stands up and looks at John. John's mouth drops in shock as he looks at the Lucario in shock.

“D-did that Lucario just talk?" John asks as he stutters. On the far south end, the beat-up grunt commander rolls onto his front as he spits out blood and a tooth onto the cave floor as he groans in pain. He looks up to see his entire team has been defeated by a single TPRG Pokemon and a bunch of kids. He starts to growl as he looks furious.

"Y-you little bastards, you haven't won yet!" He starts to pull a long-slide pistol with a modified backplate equipped with a full auto switch from his holster on the small of his back. Ace's dreads suddenly stands on ends as he senses the danger. Ace starts to bring up his shotgun looking nervous not for himself but for the safety of the kids. However a suppressed shot rings out and the commander drops his gun as he lays limp with a single bullet wound in the base of his skull, dead. A half second later Ashley arrives with some operators as well as Pokemon operators.

"POLICE!!! HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEADS, FINGERS INTERLOCKED!!! DO IT NOW!!!!" Ashley yells out. While some of the operators start to cuff and round up the knocked-out grunts and their Pokemon a few aim the weapons at John, Aya, and their Pokemon. Feeling scared, John and Aya comply with their orders. Leo as well but he growls at them as Aya begins to cry. Ace rushes over to Ashley and explains to her what happened.

“Is that so? So these are the kids that were engaged in combat with these Rocket grunts. Alright you two, put your hands down. I need to take you both out of this cave for questioning," Ashley says as she pets down John and Aya quickly to make sure they aren't hiding any weapons or contraband, she trusts Ace but it's procedure. John still looking up at her and Ashley freezes with a shocked look on her face. “It's..... you?...."

Ashley looks at the younger Pokemon Trainer with a sense of recognition but to John, she is just a stranger to him in tactical gear and armed with deadly weapons. How does Ashley know him? What would this mean for John? What is John to Ashley?

Meanwhile...

In the laboratory, the scientists have been arrested and taken away and the place is being scoured for evidence, however, Allison is at one of the cages. Inside is a strange creature, unlike the others which are so malformed they did not survive the first few minutes of their painful lives this Pokemon is completely healthy albeit unusual. It looks like a Mew albeit more anthropomorphized. The plate on the cage indicates this is Project Bravo 05 call sign snowfall. It seems the 05 is to indicate what number cage this is and there are two emblems beneath the name a psychic type emblem and an ice type emblem. Further inspection of paperwork and the computers will reveal this Pokemon is known as a Mewtwo but for the moment this little creature which is still essentially in its infancy is huddled up against the back of the cage looking terrified but hopeful as Allison makes eye contact with it.

"Hey, it's all right come on, it's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. Come here sweetheart it's going to be okay." Allison holds her hands out at the entrance of the cage and the little Pokemon slowly edges over and eventually falls into her arms and Allison cradles her like an infant rocking her and shushing her, stroking her back, Shadow the Zoroark immediately crowds in, the motherly instincts this Pokemon is famous for already kicking in and wanting to make sure this little Pokemon is safe and happy. She looks around at the other cages there are no surviving Pokemon if you could even call them that and surveying this carnage Allison's anger is Molten. "We need to figure out what the hell is going on here, and if this is Project Bravo... then what's a Project Alpha?

…..as the adventure continues.

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Chapter Playlist:

TPRG theme - Cyberpunk Darksynth Metalogic by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

vs 2 jerks - Cut Man Theme rock Remix Unlimited Extender

Rockets in the Cave - Battle! Team Rocket

Enter's Ace - Cyberpunk industrial darksynth - Mark of the Doom Slayer by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

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