Pokémon Voyages Red-Blue (10)

Voltareon2012 · October 22

            As I walked out of the Gym, I noticed the League staff member talking to Drake. He noticed me and glared. Suddenly it occurred to me- he was lying. He DIDN’T beat Brock. That meant… I was ahead. I walked toward the Pokémon Center, Pikachu at my heels, quietly smiling to myself.
            As I headed toward the route to Mount Moon, I caught more Pokémon and sent them to Professor Oak. I reached Mount Moon after not much of a walk, and healed my Pokémon in the Pokémon Center there. Then I found Grace talking to a guy in the corner who was holding a Pokéball.
            “Listen, my dear girl, this Pokémon is worth at least 500 Poké!”
            “Well, then why won’t you tell me what it is?”
            “That would ruin the surprise!”
            Grace snorted. “You’re trying to scam me.”
            The man looked taken aback. “Oh, no! I just want to make some money and allow you to see the majesty of this grand Pokémon!”
            Grace sighed. “What the heck. Fine, 500. If this is a Caterpie-”
            “Rest assured- it is NOT a Caterpie! Or for that matter, any sort of Bug-type! Bye!”
            He ran out the door while Grace yelled, “For the love of- GIMMIE MY MONEY BACK! YOU GAVE ME A MAGIKARP, JERK!”
            I almost considered chasing the guy down, but I had a mountain to pass through. I headed in Mount Moon.
            Zubat.
            That is the best way to describe the caves. Zubat. Everywhere. So many Zubat. After catching five and having Pikachu battle with ten total, I realized the best way to get past them was to just run (and not stop).
            I’d just gotten past a whole cloud of them when I heard someone saying, “C’mon, y’all! Dig!”
            I glanced around the corner and saw a bunch of guys in black with a big capital R stitched onto the chest. One appeared to be in charge, and the others had shovels and Rock or Ground typed Pokémon around them. They appeared to be digging for something.
            “A mining operation? Seems shoddy…” I muttered to myself.
            “Seems like a load of creepos for miners to me.”
            I almost jumped out of my skin. “Grace!” I hissed at her. She’d been peeking right over my shoulder, close enough that I was surprised I hadn’t heard her breathing before she spoke. I felt my face warm up.
            “Should I whisper too?” She whispered to me. “Or are they just totally normal miners who totally didn’t ambush me earlier?”
            “What?” I hissed. Quietly, she explained the story- apparently she’d caught a Clefairy, and then a guy dressed like them had demanded she had it over in the name of Team Rocket. Her Jigglypuff lost to their Ekans, and they took the Clefairy- which she had apparently nicknamed Cleffy- and also the Magikarp I’d overheard her accidentally buy earlier. She’d followed them here and run into me.
            “So they’re what? Poké thieves?” I whispered.
            “Maybe they’re supervillains and they want world domination,” she mocked. “Pssh. Yes, they’re some kind of Poké thieves.”
            “I meant, are they just petty thieves, or is this an organization?” I hissed back, heat rising to my face. That really wasn’t what I was asking the first time, but I wanted to save face.
            Grace shrugged. “What does it matter? Either way I wanna teach them a lesson.”
            She walked right into their mining operation. “HEY, JERKS!”
            “Grace, no!” I hissed, but she couldn’t hear me. The leader walked up to her. “Hey, kid. This is a private mining operation. Get lost.”
            “Mining operations don’t steal Pokémon!” Grace yelled. Half of the others mining stopped and reached for the Pokéballs on their belts. I decided now would probably be a good time to step in before she got herself killed.
            “Leave her alone,” I said as calmly as I could manage. The leader laughed and joked to his grunts, “We got the boyfriend police here, eh?” The others laughed. With superhuman willpower I managed to not die of embarrassment.
            “Do you know who we are, punk?” the leader asked me. “We’re Team Rocket. And we’re about to grind you two to dust. Get ‘em, boys.”
            Six of the Grunts tossed out various Pokémon- Diglett, Zubat, Ekans, Rattata, a Magikarp, and a Clefairy. Grace gasped. “Cleffy!”
            Diglett, Zubat and Ekans all jumped Pikachu, who easily dodged them. I tossed Charmander and Bulbasaur to help. Rattata attacked Grace’s Jigglypuff, who was still injured from before. Clefairy- or rather Cleffy- didn’t move, and Magikarp… well, flopped.
            “Pikachu, Thunderbolt! Charmander, Scratch! Bulbasaur, Seed Bomb!” Pikachu blasted Zubat and Ekans in a single bolt of electricity, though it didn’t affect Diglett. But between Charmander’s claws and the seeds from Bulbasaur, Diglett took just as much damage.
            I glanced over at Grace just in time to see Jiggly collapse to Rattata’s attack. Clefairy and Rattata cornered Grace, who didn’t have another Pokémon to use. Clefairy pointed one hand up, readying an attack.
            I don’t think even I expected what happened next.
            I tackled Clefairy to the ground. “HEY!”
            Clefairy seemed surprised and the Swift attack it was preparing hit the cave roof instead of Grace.

“Are you trying to hurt your own Trainer?!” I yelled at Clefairy, who tried to wriggle her way free. “C’mon! Don’t tell me you’d rather work for these creeps!” Clefairy wriggled free from my grasp and threw another Swift- right at Rattata. Rattata collapsed and returned to his Pokéball. Cleffy nodded to me, then to Grace. Then to a load of cash to the back.
            “Must I do EVERYTHING?” the leader sighed. His Meowth had used Payday on Cleffy and now pounced for a Slash at his Trainer’s command. My Pokémon were still fighting the other Grunts, and Squirtle and Metapod’s Pokéballs had rolled off when I tackled Cleffy.
            Then Meowth was knocked from the air by a blur of red and fins. Magikarp had thrown himself right at Meowth, knocking the Scratch Cat Pokémon to the cave floor, which gave me just enough time to command, “Pikachu, Thunderbolt!” The Thunderbolt fried the Normal-Type, and Meowth returned. I noticed that the Grunts had no more Pokémon left as well. Pikachu buzzed with anger and static at Team Rocket. The leader picked himself up. “Well… you two kids will regret making an enemy of Team Rocket! And on that note- let’s make a tactical retreat, boys!” He released his only other Pokémon, Abra, and the lot of them warped away. Grace returned Cleffy and Magikarp to their own Pokéballs, and I returned mine as well. Grace then turned to me.
            “Thanks for your help, Josh,” she said. “I don’t know if I could’ve gotten Cleffy back without your help.”

I shrugged. “It was nothing. I wanted to teach them a lesson too.”
She glared at me. “DON’T say it was nothing. That was super brave. Accept the compliment, and stop trying to act like a tough hero or something. You’re not good at it.”
I put my hands up. “Okay. Thank you.”

She smiled. “Better. Wanna get out of this cave? I hope you’re better at directions than I am.”