Chapter 2:A taste of legends
You would think that there must be something wrong with the world when young teens leave their home to live in the wild, going into dangerous environments, dealing with potential monsters in hope of capturing them, and all of this, in hope of becoming the winner of conferences held in specific regions all over the world. The truth is, there is actually a proper reason behind it all, a reason which pushes teens from all over the world to choose becoming a pokémon trainer and battler as an occupation.
Money.
How? Pay attention.
In accordance to the regulations of the Indigo League ( one can't be bothered about the other Leagues considering that this is in fact, the Kanto region, which is as wide and diverse as any), there are specific rules made for pokémon battling. In order to promote the battling prowess of pokémon, and overall experience for the trainer himself, the league has set forth certain tribulations to be followed.
Case 1. A pokémon battle is usually fought over a monetary bet, the standard value of which is two hundred pokedollars per pokémon battle. In case it isn't clear, the defeated has to pay that amount to the winner. Of course, in an official battle, both parties must consent to follow the standard protocol and accept the duty to pay up if they suffered defeat. It goes without saying that there are rogues who use this regulation to force newbie trainers to battle, and loot money out of them, without anyone knowing any better.
Case 2: Pokémon battles might be fought over pokémon or a pokémon item, such as a metal coat, or evolutionary stone. Because such an event might require change of ownership of pokémon, these battles must always take place with permission of a league-entrusted official, which can be anyone from a gym leader, to a police officer or the Nurse Joys from Pokémon centers. The above is done to prevent pokémon theft from unsuspecting trainers.
Case 3: Two parties might be inclined to choose their own bet value, either in money or in item. This type of battling is usually unofficial, and not registered to the league. Under no conditions, can a gym badge be used as a betting item. This is one of the newer regulations added to the League charter to prevent badge theft from unsuspecting trainers by malicious trainers or organizations.
In addition to that, the league has authorized free rations and medical supplies for visiting trainers, available at Pokémon centers. Such centers also provide accommodation (up to a maximum of three days, though more is available upon payment) to visiting trainers. In addition, defeating a gym leader also guarantees a particular sum of money for the trainer, a value that rises with the number of badges one wins. The maximum amount that can be won by defeating gym leaders within Kanto cannot exceed thirty thousand pokedollars, which is usually the amount one attains after collecting eight badges.
Bottom line. Being a trainer is the way to go. The stronger you are, the more money you make. And once you are deemed well enough, the league might choose to appoint you as an apprenticing Ace trainer, with good pay and benefits.
That was how fourteen-year-old Ash Ketchum found himself staring at the teen hell-bent on cosplaying a samurai. He even had the entire sword thing done right.
"So… you want to judge my ability as a trainer by attacking me with a….stick?"
"It's not a stick. It's a sword. I'm a Samurai, and that is my sword. Why do people have so much trouble grasping such a simple concept?" Said samurai wept.
It must be noticed that said sword was currently within the claws of a particularly annoyed avian, who was leering down at the samurai for trying to attack her trainer without due reason.
"Wouldn't it be more practical to have a pokémon battle where you don't try to haul that sword into my stomach, and Pidgeotto doesn't gnaw your eyes out?" Ash retorted.
The samurai looked up at his sword, before looking away to avoid the angry glare of said avian.
"I cannot haul my sword if I don't have it in the first place."
"… Right." Ash returned. "Pidgeotto, please return that sword back."
The wooden sword fell onto the samurai's head with a thud.
"Oww…."
"…. I meant to return it to the ground, but I guess that works too." Ash replied, throwing an apologetic look at his fallen opponent.
Now that the sword and the samurai were together and one, it was time for a pokémon battle (and some income), Ash thought to himself, "What do you say about a two-on-two?"
"My honour as a samurai wouldn't allow me any less."
Right. "Very well, I choose Pidgeotto."
"Go… metapod."
With a bright flash of light, the greyish hardened cocoon, which was the evolved form of catterpie, stood on the grassy floor, warily staring at the predatory avian in front of him.
Let it never be said that Ash Ketchum was a sadist. That however, didn't stop him from pointing out the obvious at the most random of times. 'Umm…. You do know that Pidgeotto feed on bugs like metapod, right?"
A single thing resonated between the minds of the metapod and its trainer. Crap.
"Pidgo!" The prideful avian let out its predatory war-cry, as it pounced down towards the ground, where the metapod was standing (or sitting? It's difficult to tell with them anyway), its beak open to catch, swallow and digest the bug in one go.
Metapod however, had other things in mind.
"Metapod, harden."
That was when something interesting happened.
Normally, the move Harden (the only thing those bugs can do anyway) enables a metapod to increase its exoskeleton density temporarily, as a defensive measure against predators. Then again, considering that most wild metapod were usually eaten up by the likes of Pidgey and Spearow, it wasn't that… productive. So, it went ahead and did the next best thing.
The predatory avian had just reached the grass, only to find metapod turn slightly incorporeal before getting sucked into its pokeball.
The hell? Exclaimed both trainer and his avian, or rather, an angry screech as far as the avian was concerned.
"I suppose I lost the round." Samurai wept.
"Pidgo! Pidgo!" the avian wept, at the loss of a prey.
At least I got something out of it. The avian's trainer grinned.
The samurai in question seemed to have gained back some of his shattered confidence. "This time," he stood up, expanding his pokeball, "I am going to win. Go, Pinsir!"
Pinsir, the stag beetle pokémon. Pinsir has a pair of massive horns. Protruding from the surface of these horns are thorns. These thorns are driven deeply into the foe's body when the pincer closes, making it tough for the foe to escape.
"Okay, this guy looks tough." Ash commented. "Say what, Pidgeotto? Want to take this one down as well?"
The avian in question couldn't be bothered with a reply.
Shows how much she respects me. Ash scowled inwardly. "Very well, go... bagon."
"Bae!" stood the baby dragon, ready to take down its foe. Said foe was busy trying to intimidate its opponent by clicking its large horns menacingly.
"Bae?" Asked Bagon, turning to Ash, which Ash translated to… 'You had to bring me out for this one?"
Ash threw him an apologetic look. "Come on, Bagon. You cannot grow stronger if you cannot defeat powerful opponents, and that is just a bug."
Now he's done it. Pidgeotto thought to herself, looking down at the baby dragon who had instantly shed off fear for pride at his trainer's words.
Boys and their pride. She thought to herself.
"All right, Pinsir, start with vice grip." Samurai yelled.
"Jump, and use Zen Head-butt."
Jumping up, and escaping the attempt to strangle him, Bagon developed a momentum and shot towards the large bug.
"Focus energy, and then go for brick break."
The strategy was good, but what Samurai didn't count for was the power behind the head-butt, one that sent Pinsir flying.
"Now, use ember at full power."
"Bae-gon!"
That ended the battle.
"I cannot believe that the guy's been there for months, waiting to fight trainers coming from Pallet town." Ash chuckled. "Do you think he might have met Gary then?"
"Bae."
"My guess is as good as yours."
"Bae."
"I can only hope that we are both speaking of the same thing."
"Bae?"
"Uh…. Never mind."
The trainer and his dragon were standing in the outskirts of Pewter city, or as it was better known, the city of the rock. Said rock referred to an ancient mountain known as Mount Moon, which was apparently home to all kinds of rare pokémon, including and especially the rare Clefairy, which had been classified as part of the newly coined Fairy-type. Needless to say, the region in and around Mount Moon had been a huge attraction for both researchers and pokémon trainers, the former wanting to investigate the rumours of the legendary moonstone which was apparently located somewhere in the inner depths of the mountain. The trainers usually were interested in catching pokémon that inhabited the mountain and its surroundings.
The rumours about Clefairy and the mythical moonstone had generated a lot of negative attraction as well. Team Rocket, a nefarious agency who believed in capturing pokémon for profit, had demonstrated an active interest in the area. That was why the Indigo League had put in several contingency plans in motion should any kind of malicious infiltration attack occur anywhere within the specific region.
The rumours about the previous gym leader abandoning town, leaving his elder son to grasp the security and responsibilities of gym leader of Pewter city didn't help matters either. It was almost an irony at how Pewter gym, once regarded as the strongest gyms in Kanto, now had the reputation to be one of the weakest.
That, precisely was the reason why newbie trainers, like Ash himself, attempted to score a badge from here instead of other cities. That, and the chance, to catch a rare pokémon from Mount Moon.
It took them a while to reach the Pewter Pokémon center, where Nurse Joy (it was a definite mystery about the sheer number of Nurse Joys, what with all of them looking the same) had taken care of his pokémon, and allowed him to refurnish some of his rations as well. While one could simply buy it from the shops, no trainer worth his salt would want to waste money over food when there were things like TM's to purchase.
"So you're here to challenge Brock, eh?" The person questioning him was a random stranger, one with pointy eyes and a huge beard covering half of his face, sitting in the lobby a few steps away from Ash, as he waited for the return of his pokémon to him.
"Uh, yeah I am." Ash replied uncertainly. "And who are you?"
"Just some random observer." The man replied snootily. "So what's the plan? Water and grass-type?"
"Uhm… I have a water-type, though I am hoping to use some of my other pokémon as well."
"Interesting. Someone with guts." The man returned. "Usually, there are all sorts of newbies running around this place, crying after getting their pokémon smashed by Brock's Onix."
"On—nix?" Ash stuttered. "Brock's got an Onix?"
"Yes, though it's relatively young. And a bunch of other rock types as well. He used them against the newbies without a badge."
Which meant that Ash would be one to face the Onix as well.
Damn.
Onix, were in general, rock-snakes. Mammoth in size, and had a huge amount of power to pack their punches with. A fully grown Onix would normally reach around eight metres in length at least, and were quite immune to general water-types in comparison, no thanks to their partial steel-typing which took dominance when they evolved into a Steelix, which had a steel-typing with draconic attributes. Say what you will about him, but Ash always did his homework when it came to pokémon.
I guess, Poliwag is my best bet then.
"You could always visit Mount Moon, first." The obsessively-helpful stranger offered. "There are many wild grass pokémon out there, ones that can get you an advantage over rock types. Alternatively, you could travel to the river, and try catching another water-type or two."
Both options were good. Both options were sensible.
Both options were practically useless for Ash.
"Sorry…" the teen spoke in a somewhat suppressed tone. "I'm already late, and I need to pick up slack. I cannot afford to travel all the way to Mount Moon and back, try defeating Brock, and then travel past Mount Moon all the way all over again."
"Interesting." The stranger observed.
The man's reply went unheard as a chime rung in the lobby, as a dull, mechanical voice spoke up. "Ash Ketchum, please come to the front desk to collect your pokémon."
"I suppose I'll just try with what I have." Ash spoke to the man, before turning away. "Thanks for the suggestion, though."
The stranger just shrugged, before taking out a cigar, and lighting it. "Try your best, kid."
At first sight, the Pewter gym seemed like a symbolic representation of everything that Pewter city stood for. Built out of a single monolith, the entire gym was shaped according to the designs of ancient rock temples, with tall pillars on the courtyard, and a wide, stone set of stairs that led to the inner confines of the rocky edifice. On top of the pillars, were beautiful sculptures of rock-type pokémon, carved out of monoliths themselves, each being a representation to the world of rock-types. From his vantage point, Ash was able to recognize a golem, an Onix, and a rhydon amongst the others.
And this is supposed to be the weakest gym all around. Ash swallowed.
As he reached the precipice of the stairs, Ash found himself facing the giant rock doors that were supposedly the entrance to the gym inside. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the tiny switch on the left.
"Please state your name and purpose." A mechanical voice spoke out.
Taking a deep breath, he replied. "Ash Ketchum, here to battle the gym leader."
With a hiss, the rock doors slid away on either end, revealing the open pathway to walk in. Cautiously, Ash took the first step, followed by another, until he was standing right in the inner confines of the gym.
The insides, much to his amazement, were completely opposite to the outer décor. Apart from the rocky terrain on the ground built specifically for the gym battles, the rest of the gym was created with highly tempered steel, augmented with several technological gadgets Ash had never seen. A door to the right opened on its own, as a person, who seemed to be in his early twenties, walked in. His features were slightly chiselled, especially his eyes which almost looked like slits from afar.
"Ash Ketchum, I presume?"
Ash nodded.
"I am Brock Harrison. The Pewter city Gym leader. How many badges do you have?"
"Uh… none. I just started my journey this week."
Brock raised an eyebrow. "A handicap then. Very well, how many pokémon do you have?"
"... Three."
"That's good. That means you've been quite active over this week. Very well," the young man had a rather orotund voice. "Here are the rules. This will be a two on three match. You may choose to substitute one pokémon for another. You may not use more than three pokémon in this battle. You may choose to forfeit a battle whenever you want." He paused. "Any questions?"
Ash went through all that in his mind once again. "No." He shook his head.
"Whenever you are ready then."
Ash gave him an uneasy smile, as he flipped his cap on the other side. "I'm ready whenever you are."
Brock smiled. "Confidence. I like it." He calmly plucked a single pokeball from his belt, and threw it normally into the field. "Geodude, time for battle."
The pokémon in question looked like a single chuck of rock with eyes and a mouth, with two rocky arm-like appendages protruding out of its head on either side. The end points of the appendages were modified into gigantic fists, each almost the size of the head itself.
Geodude, the rock pokémon. It uses its arms to steadily climb steep mountain paths. It swings its fists around if angered.
"Geodude, huh…" Ash muttered. "You are pretty hard then. Try someone like this then." He plucked a pokeball from his belt and threw it onto the field. "Go, Bagon."
Pokeball technology was built in such fashion, that irrespective of its manner of throw, once the action of capturing or releasing was done, the pokeball was return back to the owner's hand. And just like that, Ash found his pokeball zooming up in the air before he caught it in his hand.
"A bagon, eh?" Brock looked impressed. "Haven't seen one of those for a long time." He looked up curiously at Ash. "Where did you find him?"
"He's my starter." Ash replied, a little glad for once that someone realized what his starter was.
"Interesting." Brock smiled. "Now Geodude, use Hammer Arm."
"Dodge it, bagon." Ash yelled. "Now use ember."
The tiny fireballs sped past Geodude, hitting straight on its appendages, but without much effect. "Now use zen head-butt."
"Hold it, Geodude." Brock warned, knowing very well how strong Bagon's head-butt was known to be. "Now throw it."
Damn, this is difficult. "All right, bagon. Use the rocks on the ground as support, and use rage."
"Rock throw."
Yes, come closer.
"Bagon, get ready. Any moment now." Please let it work. Please let it work.
"Geodude, end this." Brock commanded.
Said rock-type had come inches close to bagon.
"Jump up." Ash yelled.
"What?" Brock looked surprised, at the ease with which the baby dragon switched its momentum. Geodude had crashed its appendage into the rocky terrain.
"Now use zen head-butt. Full power."
"Bae-gon!" The baby dragon dived down at full speed, smashing against the rock-type, which instantly fainted then and there.
"Geo-dude!" came the broken, disoriented voice of the defeated rock type.
Brock's lips thinned for a moment, before it gave birth to a smile. "That… was well done, Ash. I must say I underestimated you."
Ash grinned. Tuning to Bagon, he replied, "We did it, Bagon."
"Gon!" the dragon grunted.
"Very well." The gym leader observed, returning his disoriented pokémon back to rest inside his pokeball. "Let's see what you can do against something this size." He threw the other pokeball into the field. "Annihilate them, Onix."
The byzantine monolithic serpent roared, power bursting out of its voice. It cast an intimidating look upon the tiny dragon, who looked slightly worse for wear, and had slowly stepped back, out of fear of the gigantic serpent.
"Return, bagon." Ash returned him, before throwing in another. "I choose you, Poliwag."
"A water type." Brock observed. "You came prepared, I see."
"Something like that." Ash grinned. "Poliwag, use water-gun on Onix."
Ignoring the slightly intimidated feeling, the blue tadpole opened its mouth to throw in a powerful jet of water towards the rock serpent, whose discomfort seemed to increment with time.
"Onix, rock throw." Brock ordered, not wanting to see the water gun weaken his Onix further.
"Poliwag, return." Ash returned him, much to Brock's surprise. "Pidgeotto, I choose you."
"Your instincts are top notch, I'll give you that, Ash." Brock spoke out. "However, what good will a flying type do against my Onix?"
Ash smirked. "Pidgeotto, use Double team."
Instantly, the atmosphere above them was filled with dozens of illusions of said avian, none of them any different from the other.
"Now, use peck on Onix's head, all at once."
The dozens of illusionary avians shot down towards the monolithic serpent, hitting straight on the head with significant force, as the serpentine behemoth roared in pain.
"Now use air slash."
"Enough, Onix. Use Rock Tomb." Brock yelled.
"Pidgeotto, return."
"Are you going to keep playing this game of hide and seek, Ash?" Brock asked, both irritated and interested at what the boy was going to do next.
"I choose you, Poliwag. Use water gun."
Another jet of water slammed into the rock monster at full force, making Onix groan in discomfort.
"Rock tomb." Brock tried.
"Not so easy. Jump and use water gun again."
"Onix, try to capture the poliwag."
The Onix groaned, as it reached for the tadpole.
"Now, climb onto Onix and use bubble."
"Onix, throw the Poliwag away." Brock ordered, as Onix used its mighty tail to banish the tadpole off its body.
"Poliwag, return." Ash returned the nearly disoriented pokémon, and threw another. "Bagon, your turn. Use zen head-butt on its head."
It was only too easy.
"Onix." Brock yelled in surprise, as the great snake finally gave way, falling down onto the floor, having been knocked out by the powerful attack.
"Return." The gym leader replied at last. "Well done Ash. That, was one of the best battles I've ever fought since becoming gym leader."
"… Really?" Ash gushed in surprise. Personally, he was feeling grateful that his attack scheme had worked without fail.
"Really." Brock agreed without hesitation, as he crossed the rocky terrain, walking up to Ash. "You'll become a great pokémon trainer, if you keep this up, and this," he held out a shiny greyish, octagonal badge, "is the boulder badge, the symbol of your victory over the Pewter city gym."
"Uh… thanks. This means a lot to me." Ash returned gleefully, holding the badge in his fingers.
"You should get yourself a badge holder, for safekeeping. Just in case they got lost." Brock advised. It was a slightly redundant thing to do, considering that the newer regulations of the League made it a necessary point for gym leaders to log in the names of trainers who had gotten a badge from them, and upload the data to the league database. This automatically solved issues arising out of badge theft or simply losing them while travelling. Also, it prevented the spread and sale of fake badges, since the league kept proper note of the number of badges attained by trainers and their respective details.
"I will." Ash replied, without missing a beat.
"You are a sharp trainer, Ash. I'm sure if you keep it up, your pokémon will become powerful enough to win the league conference for you." Brock complimented him. "Also… it is my wish that you… take this."
He took Ash's hand and put in a little red and black sphere.
A pokeball?
"Before I became a full-time gym leader, I used to be a pokémon breeder." Brock replied, a slight sadness visible in his tone. "This… is one of the pokémon that I helped heal, but unfortunately, I do not have the time required to train it and push it to its best."
"Oh—kay." Ash wasn't sure what to say.
"So I want you to keep it, and train it. Make sure it becomes the strongest of its species someday."
A grin slowly spread on Ash's face. "Sure thing, Brock. I will."
"You don't even know what the pokémon is yet." Brock deadpanned.
"ehehehe…" the teen laughed in embarrassment, before clicking the release button, as the familiar jet of light, shot out, condensing into a-
Rhyhorn?
Rhyhorn. The spikes pokémon. Its body is clad in a thick hide, and its tackles topple buildings. Unfortunately, it is not smart.
Right…
This rhyhorn is male. Current Move set: Horn attack, Smack down, bulldoze, and rock blast. Its ability is rock head.
Rhyhorn were, in general, pretty normal pokémon, albeit one with high offensive capabilities. Their major negative attribute was their lack of intelligence, and were not an option for a wit-based battle. However, their evolutions Rhydon, and its final form Rhyperiors were absolute monsters in all sense of the term. In fact, a rhyperior was easily able to give a Charizard a hard time, considering that their hide was literally immune to even magma. On the other hand, the amount of hard work required to evolve a rhyhorn into one of those was staggering, though justified, since the final evolution was literally the epitome of badassery.
"So what do you think Ash?" Brock asked, shaking him out of his reveries. "Will you take charge of this rhyhorn?"
"I…. Won't it cause problems, Brock? I mean, he's your pokémon, after all."
Brock smiled. "He's not. I just healed him, and he never really left. As I am sure you know, rhyhorn aren't really the symbol of intelligence. I'm sure his… sense of loyalty will attach itself to you should you treat him well."
Ash gripped the ball tightly, as he beamed. "I promise I will, Brock."
"Make sure you do." Brock warned. "I'll be keeping a check every now and then. I don't want to hear that rhyhorn was traded with some other pokémon a month from now."
Ash swallowed. "Sure thing."
Two more pokémon… Ash thought to himself. Two more pokémon and I'll have to start sending them to Professor Oak's coral for safekeeping.
It had been over two days since he had left the Pewter city for Mount Moon. And a rather eventful journey that had been.
After walking out of the gym, he had immediately raced off to the pokémon center to get his pokémon healed and back in form. The walk to Mount Moon was rather long, and he didn't really have any form of locomotion as of yet. Gary, he knew for a fact, moved around in a convertible which was way too costly for someone like Delia Ketchum to afford for her son. Thus, there was no option save walking his way to his next destination.
He had met a total of six trainers on the way over the last two days, and if he were honest with himself, none of them were too difficult. Yes, he had indeed lost a battle to a certain Roger and his primeape, but he had also won the other five, making himself a hefty amount of three thousand pokedollars already. That, along with the one thousand dollars Brock had paid him as stipend from the league, had made his pockets richer by a significant amount, and he knew exactly what to do with them.
TM's.
Acronym for Technical Machines, these… gadgets were dead useful for teaching moves to pokémon in a rather swift and risk-free way. The only disadvantage was that TM's were highly expensive, especially if one were to consider buying the reusable ones. However, the reusable ones offered the option of teaching it to multiple pokémon with time, and hence, made the better deal.
He considered his pokémon. Bagon had improved greatly in speed and technique, his ember now more effective, his jaws strengthening, which meant a better bite, and was slowly on his way to master dragon claw. Once he was able to accomplish that, Ash would begin to try teach him dragon breath. Once again, he mentally thanked Professor Oak for the pokedex, which was able to acquire several videos of Bagon species demonstrating dragon breath. It would be good to have another long-range technique aside from ember.
Poliwag had already mastered bubble beam and rain dance over the last two days. With his rather affinity to performing a perfect water gun move, Ash was seriously contemplating teaching him another powerful offensive move, the hydro pump. Mastering hydro pump would bring Poliwag one step closer to evolution, which, considering his increasing body mass over the past few days, was already close to home.
Pidgeotto…. Well, the one word used for the shiny avian was Natural. That bird was simply… a natural at learning. Then again, considering it had managed to learn complicated move sets like air slash and double team, it wasn't all unexpected. His female avian had mastered sand attack, and was on her way to master whirl wind. He decided to try getting her learn twister if possible. Her slightly lower build had raised questions in Ash's mind, but he was certain that his pokémon would be able to evolve into a large and powerful Pidgeot with time.
The last was rhyhorn. In a whim, Ash had tried to sit on rhyhorn's back, hold him tight, and order the rhinoceros to charge ahead, hoping that doing so would save some time. He had learnt it the hard way that contrary to other terrestrial pokémon like Arcanine, rhyhorn could only run straight, irrespective of any and all boulders and obstacles that might be unfortunate enough to be on its way.
The slight throbbing on his back was incentive enough for Ash Ketchum to never try such a thing, ever again.
He had walked past the outskirts of the proper city, leading to the thick forestland that surrounded Mount Moon. He had been walking through the forest for almost an hour now, and had already passed several stations of League personnel keeping track of people moving in and out.
"For the last time, this is my pokedex, and I am Ash Ketchum." He snapped in irritation at a league personnel who had bothered with his identification for the nth time since entering the forest region.
"Heh… don't get snarky, kid." Said personnel, an elder man around thirty, chuckled at his antics. "Anyway, this is the last check point. You 'll need to clear your way past two other checkpoints if you get out from the other end though."
"Gee thanks." Ash retorted, snatching his pokedex back and walking off.
"Kids these days!" The man sighed. "You should be entering the cave on the next right, kid. And remember, you might meet a cranky old man insides. Don't mind him." The man paused. "On second thought, don't tell him I told you that, eh?"
"Sure." Ash drawled. "Now can I go?"
The man just gave him a hand gesture to pass, as he stomped his way out.
Mount Moon was, in simple terms, a complete maze of interconnected routes that intersected each other, spanning over an area of several miles at least. There were routes specifically carved out for travellers who wanted to reach the other side of the mountain without any hassle, and as was obvious, most of the cave-dwelling pokémon tended to stay away from these routes, except the rare nidoran, diglet or sandshrew who came up from the ground from time to time. Apart from the obvious and marked-out routes, there were several other caverns that led to the inner confines of the humongous mountain, one that were less mapped out, and had more probability of having nocturnal and cave-dwelling pokémon inside them. Also, the way to the mythical moonstone, must also lie somewhere within these unmapped routes as well.
Ash had returned all of his pokémon, except rhyhorn, who would be immensely helpful to get past boulders and boundaries in the caverns, and with the help of his torch, he had made a reasonable amount of progress into the innards of the monolith. It had been several hours and yet, apart from the rare sandshrew or its evolved form, sandslash, he hadn't managed to find something that attracted his eye.
There had been a couple of nidoran as well, but he had ignored them and walked ahead.
"Rhyhorn, use horn attack over here." Ash commanded, pointing towards a rather large fragment of the wall that felt slightly… hollow, compared to the others. True to its nature, rhyhorn smashed through the stone wall, leaving any empty opening for Ash to follow through behind it.
It was dark. It was… strange. And it was cold.
Wait. Rephrase that bit. It was biting, ice cold, and Ash was sure that he had felt powerful gusts of wind carrying that unnatural coldness blowing from somewhere, into this dark cavern.
How nice it would have been to have a charmander right now. The tail flame would have done wonders.
Ash suppressed the thought, as he held the torch up, its thin beam of light doing a rather paltry job at lighting up the environment. As far as he could see, there were walls all around, with slight wisps of biting cold winds seeping through the air spaces in them.
"Alright, rhyhorn. There's no point waiting in here. Tackle straight ahead towards that wall." He pointed the direction with his torch. "Now."
Never question a rhyhorn about its diligence.
The wall shook, the shock waves from the powerful tackle reverberating through the entire innards of the cavern, as portions of the wall began to fragment and fall, both on Ash's side and the other.
Crap. He decided. "Rhyhorn come back."
Apparently, he shouldn't have doubted the rumours about rhyhorn's lack of intelligence. Said beast was stuck his horn into the wall, and as was his nature, rhyhorn had decided that the only way was forward, thus becoming an excellent candidate for the falling stones to land on.
"Rhyhorn!" Ash screamed in horror.
"Use Psychic." Came an unfamiliar voice, and suddenly, the falling boulders paused, stopping in mid-air, just like that. "Use Flash." The male voice continued.
The entire cavern lit up like a living room, as an enormous structure a few steps away from Ash, began to glow brightly, revealing the contents of the cavern for Ash's eyes to see.
"Whoa!" Ash whispered in awe.
Levitating in front of him, was a giant rock-type pokémon, with a large oval-shaped head, and four appendages on four sides. There was a bright X in front of its head, with eyes on either side of the X. In other words, it was exactly what the Badass form of Geodude was supposed to look like.
Metagross. Dexter spoke up in its usual tone. The Iron leg pokémon. Metagross is the final evolution form of Beldum, and has four brains in total. Combined, the four brains can breeze through difficult calculations faster than a supercomputer. This pokémon can float in the air by tucking in its four legs.
And standing next to the giant pokémon was a man who looked like he was in his early fifties. "Call your rhyhorn back, lad."
Ash did the same without comment, his eye never leaving the spectacular form of the pokémon in front of him. With rhyhorn's pokeball back to his belt, he opened up Dexter and scanned the specimen in front of him.
Metagross has a steel/psychic typing. Judging from its current move set, it is at least fifty years old.
"A pokedex." The older man recognized. "One of Oak's, eh?"
"… Yes." Ash replied.
"What's ya name, lad?"
"I'm Ash. Ash Ketchum." He replied. For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off the giant steel/psychic type in front of it, and knew that the Metagross in question was judging him.
"Nice to meet ya, Ash. I'm Derrick." The man introduced himself. "And I can see ya rather… enticed with my Metagross."
"It's… It's an amazing pokémon…" Ash spoke, more to himself than to the man, before quickly realizing the situation. "-sir."
"Just Derrick is fine." The man waved off, before turning to Metagross. "What do ya think?"
The beast-It couldn't be anything but that-made an odd groaning noise, as its jet black, compound eyes stared into Ash, as if looking into his very soul. After another pause, the beast groaned.
"Ah… so that's how it is." The old man chuckled. Turning to Ash, he asked, "What are ya doing in these caverns, lad?"
"I… I was searching for awesome and cool pokémon." Ash returned, as he gained some semblance of control over his emotions. "Wait…" he realized suddenly, "you are… are with the league, right?"
"Huh?" The man scrunched his face. "Why would ya say that?"
"The officers told me that should I find someone old and…." He quickly backpedalled, "-I mean… some old gentleman inside, then I shouldn't mind and go ahead without disturbing him."
"Is that so?" The man laughed again.
Ash observed the man in question. Despite his age, the man gave away an aura of vitality, almost like he was far, far younger. Besides, his apparel was rather simple, and not one of those uniforms the league personnel wore at all times. Though… those uniforms looked cool though…
Especially with a cape. Like Lance.
"So lad… tell you what, today might just be ya lucky day. Come with me and I'll show ya a cool and awesome pokémon."
"…."
The man progressed deeper into the other side of the cavern, one through which Metagross had just paved a passage, before he realized that his companion was still standing back there. "Ya comin'?"
"….. Yeah, sure."
Mount Moon held within its confines, some terrible secrets. And these terrible truths weren't necessarily ordained to be kept secret by Clefairy alone, for as much as these fairy types were able to use their sight to view the waves of time, space and destiny, and spot patterns in the complex waves that Dialga and Palkia have been generating for eons, they were only fairies, and hence, were not worthy enough to see the complete picture. Instead, they retained a fragment of the truth, but the truth nevertheless, and protected it with their lives. Just like the psychics in the south-end of the mountain, and the mysterious dark energies trapped in the east, they all retained their own secrets, each no less tantamount than the other, and thus, waited in silence and unwelcome desperation, for the fateful day when he-who-waits-in-darkness would finally unveil the harsh, but no less complete, calamitous, catastrophic truth.
The electric tamer's ascent had not come to pass, and hence, the Clefairy stayed away.
"So Ash, what do ya think?"
Ash Ketchum was blank, and with due reason. Right in front of him, and on either side, was a giant, steel hive. He could only see, his eyes brightly lit with awe as he saw scores of Beldum and metang float around, with their psychic typing allowing them to levitate in the air akin to any self-respecting avian.
"This is… this is real?" He asked in astonishment.
"As real as ya and me, lad." The man, Derrick spoke softly.
"All this… this…"
"My Metagross was originally a metang just like anyone from here, and let me tell ya something lad. Metagross have a hive mind. They are able to communicate at extreme speeds over hundreds of miles away, without batting an eye."
"So…"
"I occasionally come up here, to check things up, and shake things up a bit." He gave Ash a smile. "—and get some of these old chums to go out and get themselves a trainer."
Ash's eyes lit up.
"My Metagross thinks that ya have a good potential to train one of these chums, lad. What do ya say?"
"I… I…"
"Of course, ya have to battle one of them first, lad. Metang only obey those in power. If ya can't subdue them in power, they'll never follow ya."
"Oh…"
"So which of ya chums would like to test this one's mettle?" Derick asked the colony in general, ignoring the shocked look the teen was giving him.
After what seemed to be a cacophony of mechanical groans, a single metang floated out. Unlike Metagross, metang were much smaller, and had two appendages, and looked like the steel/psychic version of Geodude after a fashion. That was at least, a development from Beldum, which only looked like the head was encrusted on top of a single appendage, giving it a rocket like structure.
Metang. The iron claw pokémon. Ash checked Dexter. When two Beldum fuse together, metang is formed. The brains of the Beldum are joined by a magnetic nervous system. By linking its brains magnetically, this pokémon generates strong psychokinetic power.
Right. I'm so catching this one. Ash decided. "Time to shine, my friend. Bagon, I choose you."
The light that was emitted out of the pokeball condensed to form the shape of the baby dragon. "Bae-gon!" The baby dragon roared.
A bagon eh? Derrick noted. Interesting. Did you know that?
Metagross didn't bother to either accept or deny the accusation, but merely stared at the human child in front of him.
He couldn't have gotten a bagon here in the wild, and looks fairly new to being a trainer. Why would someone like Oak give a pseudo-legendary to a kid as a starter? It doesn't even begin to make sense.
He cast another glance at the metang who was hovering in front of the baby dragon, ready to test its mettle.
And now metang. Another pseudo-legendary species. Is it merely… a coincidence?
Metagross stayed silent.
Metagross? Am I not worthy enough to know?
The behemoth turned towards its trainer, observing him for a moment.
And then Metagross revealed the answer.
Ash Ketchum was at his wit's end.
The metang he was trying to capture was rather powerful, at least as far as psychokinetic powers were concerned. It was able to easily neutralize the momentum from Bagon's attacks, and then throw the dragon towards the wall. It was only Bagon's determination that made it try again and again in futility.
This isn't working.
With the large distances between the two walls, the metang was having a rather fun time throwing the dragon from one wall to another, only for the resilient dragon to keep trying to head butt it in the air. If only Bagon could….
Hang on.
"Bagon, use your agility to jump from one wall to the other, and keep doing that." Ash commanded, and was glad to see bagon following his lead. With how strong Bagon's head was, metang was having a rather rough time trying to levitate in the air with how the baby dragon was jumping from one wall to another all around him. As seconds passed, it seemed like Bagon's speed was increasing.
Sheer force. Bagon's hidden ability. Dexter cried. Sheer force increases the agility and power behind Bagon's attacks.
"Now use dragon claw." Ash yelled, as the dragon twisted in mid-air, before sending powerful slashes of draconic energy, tearing through the air towards metang.
Said metang dodged one of the slashes but was slightly hit by the other. Enraged, it launched a psychic beam at bagon.
"Use ember."
Bagon growled in anger, and revealed a glimpse of the dormant draconic strength that would unlock in due time to give rise to the pseudo-legendary he was born to become. Instead of the little balls of fire that Ash had come to expect, came out a burst of pure draconic energy, compressed into spherical shape.
Bagon gave it an outlet. Metang.
Dragon Pulse. Ash realized. Bagon's egg move. The sheer force ability must have unlocked it.
The sheer draconic power pulsing inside the sphere smashed into the metang, sending it off the realms of its consciousness, as metang lost its psychokinetic balance, falling to the rocky floor. However, Ash was ready. Before the steel-type had even reached the ground, an empty pokeball hit it, sucking it into itself.
One second.
Two seconds.
"Ding."
"I can't believe that I actually caught a pokémon that evolves into Metagross." Ash gushed, overjoyed. "All thanks to you, bagon."
"Bae-gon!" Said dragon cheered in his victory.
"And you unlocked dragon pulse as well." Ash reminded. "Just wait and watch. We'll defeat every single trainer out there."
"Gon!"
"I am glad ya'r happy, Ash." Derrick commented from behind.
Ash faltered midway. "And thanks to you too, Mr. Derrick. Without you, I'd never have found the metang colony."
"That's right." Derrick agreed with hesitation. "Without someone on the inside, it is nigh impossible to find those chums."
"Thanks again, Mr. Derrick."
Derrick chuckled. "Say Ash, would ya help me in a little venture of mine?"
"Anything, Mr. Derrick." Came the rushed answer.
The old man laughed at his naïveté. "Well, ya see… I've been trying to find the legendary moonstone, but there's…. a lot of interference, causing trouble for my Metagross."
Inwardly, Ash wondered what kind of energy could have posed an issue for someone as strong as the psychic type floating behind him. It was not his first time with psychics, considering that he literally lived with one, albeit one with whom he had a sort of love/hate relationship. That, and Professor Oak's Alakazam, whose raw power was blinding, literally so. And yet, in front of this steel behemoth that casually floated in front of him, they paled. Literally. And despite his awe with the pokémon, and Derrick's affable nature, Ash wasn't stupid enough to consider the man to be anyone ordinary by any means.
A fifty year old metagross that could beat Professor Oak's Alakazam hands down in pure power.
It was a humbling thought. Briefly, he cast a glance at his pokeball, the one that contained a metang, one that would in turn, evolve into a Metagross, just like the specimen in front of him.
Would my metagross ever be as powerful as him?
Power is a state of mind, human hatchling.
The powerful voice that resonated inside his mind could only belong to one entity. He gazed in awe at the behemoth, unsure if it was his mind playing tricks on him or not. Intentionally or not, the metagross didn't even cast a glance at him.
"So tell me Ash, would ya help me?"
"Uh…. Sure, what do you need?" Ash offered.
A ghost of a smile formed on the man's lips. "What other pokémon do ya have?"
"A Pidgeotto, a poliwag, and my rhyhorn." Ash answered.
"Hmmm…" Derrick looked at him thoughtfully. "Ya see, as I said, there are some energies around this place, that are interfering with my metagross's psychic powers. I'd be grateful if you could use ya baby dragon's abilities to get us to a' destination."
"Bagon? How would he-?"
"This place is filled with ambient draconic energy, lad. That was what pushed ya'r bagon to be able to use sheer force, and unlock that dragon pulse." He chuckled. "I must say… that was one strong dragon pulse there. Obviously, the ambient draconic energy increased Bagon's abilities."
"They can do that?" Ash asked in surprise.
"Heh!" Derrick laughed. "Ya sure have a lot to learn if ya wants to become a dragon trainer. Why do ya think there's so few of them out there?"
"I just… thought that it was because dragons are so rare." Ash mumbled, never having thought that bit.
"Heh! The innocence of youth! The reason why Dragon tamers are so rare is because most dragons eat 'em up!"
That shut Ash up.
"…. What?"
"Dragons are prideful species, lad. And a lot of them are pseudo-legendary. That bagon of yours, when it evolves to Salamence, that's a pseudo-legendary, like Dragonite, here in Kanto."
"….."
"There must've been something in ya that ya'r dragon listened to ya'r command, even after so many failures. Arceus knows I've seen enough of those chums trying to tame dragons and failing spectacularly."
It was a terrifying and humbling realization.
A dragon tamer. Ash realized. He had always glorified having a dragon team, but he had never realized that deep within, that mindset had been born of a simple subconscious wish.
It was why he had rooted after getting a charmander as a starter.
And now I've a bagon. A dragon. A pseudo-legendary. Shit! This is… this is…
"Anyway lad, I need ya'r Bagon to… uhm… sniff, the draconic energy in the cavern and lead us to the place where it is most concentrated."
A suspicion formed in Ash's mind. "Would it also be the place that's generating all these… cold winds as well?"
Derrick grinned.
The group had travelled for several hours. Occasionally, there would be a chain of walls that would need to be broken, usually by Metagross though at times, Derrick would ask Ash for the services of his rhyhorn. Said rhyhorn was only too glad to tackle down walls, much to his trainer's amusement. Behind them, the old steel pokémon floated, humming slowly as it levitated itself with pure psychic force.
The deeper they seemed to go, the more the psychic interference seemed to rise. Even Ash, who had grown up around a psychic, had begun to slowly feel it. Initially, it had been an odd humming sound coming from a distant area, but it had slowly turned into a slow, albeit pounding headache, enough that Ash had to stop for a moment in order to get out a couple of analgesics for himself and his companion.
And the biting cold seemed to just keep on increasing. Even the psychic shields that metagross had put up all around seemed unable to keep the chilly cold winds from devouring them.
"Bae—Bagon!" The baby dragon stopped in its path, pointing excitedly at the blank stretch of rocks in front of them.
"It is this wall." Ash yelled amidst the roaring winds. "Beyond the wall is the source of all this."
"Ash!" Derrick yelled back, "Use your rhyhorn one last time."
"Okay!" Ash agreed, calling his ground type out. "Rhyhorn, use tackle against that wall!"
That had been a mistake.
The moment the rock-type had shattered past the rock boundary, a wave of extra-terrestrial energy radiated out from the insides towards them. The moment it hit rhyhorn, the rock-type instantly changed into pure energy and returned to its pokeball. The shockwaves reached past the broken wall fragments, and slammed into the psychic defenses that metagross had raised in haste, all thanks to its powerful supercomputing mind.
Only if that had been enough.
The sheer strength behind the shock wave hadn't shattered metagross defenses, but it sent them recoiling back several feet away.
"What… the hell is that?" Ash spoke aloud in awe.
There, visible past the broken wall, several hundred feet away, was a large pyramidal rock, bright silvery sheen radiating from its very surface, with hundreds of Clefairy and Clefable, sitting at the base of the large monolith, chanting. A powerful barrier of extra-terrestrial magic protected the monolith as well as the Clefairy within it, and on top of the barrier, perched like only a King could, sat a gigantic avian. Its entire body was royal blue, with a golden sheen towards its wings, and a bright crimson crown above its dark eyes, jet black and piercing with its gaze drawn upon the intruders who had chanced upon its sanctorum.
It raised its wings upward, each wingspan a dozen feet at minimum, as powerful icy, cold wind shattered its way past the walls, aimed at the complete and utter annihilation of those who had intruded upon its sacred grounds.
The grounds of the king of all that is water and ice in the world.
"Articuno…." Derrick breathed in reverence.
The powerful shock wave had shaken Ash into action. Instantly, he pulled rhyhorn out. "Rhyhorn, use Rock Tomb!"
Said creature smashed its powerful legs onto the ground, raising several plates of rock before them, creating a rudimentary shield.
"Not enough, Ash." Derrick yelled. "Return your rhyhorn back. Only a pseudo-legendary has any chance against a legendary."
"What- you mean?"
"That is the king of the water and ice, lad." The old man yelled, as metagross manifested more psychic defenses in front of them, as the initial ones shattered into nothingness. "Articuno."
"Articuno…." Ash breathed. Without haste, he recalled rhyhorn back.
"Metagross, I need a no-interference zone right now!" The man yelled, as metagross began humming, louder than ever, radiating out powerful waves all around them, as any and all possible interference ceased to exist for the time being.
A part of Ash wondered if he could even breathe inside this zone.
"Alakazam, I need your aid." The man yelled, releasing a jet of light from another of his pokeballs, liberating out a female, but no less potent Alakazam, who stood her ground, looking calmly, in wait for orders.
"When I give the signal, teleport us out of here, to the exit of the cave. All of us, is that clear?"
Crystal. The smooth female voice resonated.
"We have only one shot at this, my friend." Derrick chuckled mirthlessly. "On three, throw down the defences and use it."
Metagross hummed.
"Now!" Derrick ordered, as the defences vanished, as all hell broke loose.
"Flash cannon!"
For Ash, it was only a blinding light. One with energy the likes of which he had never experienced, as Metagross threw out a singular burst of psychic energy all in one single strike at the legendary bird of ice.
Articuno screeched, enraged at the intruder's defiance, as it collected a mist of latent energy and fired off a gigantic ice beam, which smashed against the flash cannon attack.
"Teleport, now!"
The last thing he had seen was the powerful ice-beam smash against the equally powerful Flash Cannon attack, before everything turned jet-dark for an instant, and the next moment, he was standing right at the other entrance, the one which exited towards Cerulean city. Beside him, Derick stood panting, while Alakazam was unfazed as ever. Metagross on the other hand, looked slightly worse for wear.
"What… what was that?" Ash asked in desperation.
"That… dear lad, was what happens when we challenge the presence of a legendary." Derrick explained, still panting.
Legendary….
For an instant, his mind went back to when rhyhorn had slammed the wall open, and had been forced to return by the sheer presence of Articuno. To think that Metagross had not only been able to stand against such a powerful presence, but force it defend itself, spoke volumes about the sheer power the behemoth wielded.
Wow….
"Now Ash", Derrick spoke, having gained his composure back, "I must ask you to keep whatever you saw in there, a complete secret. We wouldn't want malicious organizations to try and make an attempt to capture Articuno, should they come to know about its existence inside the mountain. Can I… can I trust you to do that?"
"Sure." Ash promised. "I… won't tell anyone."
"Good lad." Derrick answered. He politely ignored mentioning that metagross had in fact, sealed the information inside the boy's mind. Ash would be able to think about it, but would never be able to share that information out with anyone else. The power of a psychic, after all, was unparalleled beyond belief.
"Now… I guess you should be leaving for Cerulean city, right?" he continued, as the teen shook his head. "Good, and take care of that metang, and that bagon… they are both amazing pokémon with infinite potential."
"I will, you can be sure of that." Ash promised.
"See you then, lad. I'll… get back to my work. You take care."
"Same to you, Mr. Derrick." Ash wished, as he turned away and walked down the mountainous road that led to Cerulean city. He couldn't wait to unlock more of his Bagon's power, and his metang as well… considering what he had learned about metagross's potential back there in the cave.
The sheer power….
Wait.
A single, troubling thought rose in his mind. Something that Derrick had mentioned.
Only a pseudo-legendary has any chance against a legendary….
His mind went back to the powerful defences erected by the steel behemoth, followed by the burst of pure energy that had pushed Articuno to the defensive… and then he remembered the sheer presence emanated by the pokémon when he first laid eyes on him.
His hand subconsciously strayed into his belt, and plucked the pokeball that now contained in it, a metang. A metang that evolved into metagross.
Only a pseudo-legendary has any chance against a legendary….
"Hole-ly Shit!"