Disclaimer : I do not own Pokémon

Ash strolled up the path which connected Pewter City, his starter Pokémon bouncing along beside him. The trainer grinned at his first Pokémon, glad that he was still excited for the rest of their journey. They had a bit of a late start, considering that it was already eleven, and they had not made it to the entrance of Mt. Moon. But Ash thought it would be best to not rush through this part of the region, as it would be worth taking his time to go through it.

The trainer soon saw the entrance to the tunnel which ran through the mountain, and allowed himself to take a breath of relief. He picked up the pace slightly, and soon enough, the duo had arrived in front of the entrance. There was a sign outside of it, which warned people to not enter without having any Pokémon. Ash was about to pull out a flashlight from his backpack, until he noticed that a series of lights was strung up against on both sides of the cavern wall, completely illuminating the inside. The trainer was quite confused by the sight of them. As far as he knew, caves were supposed to be kept for the sake of the Pokémon who inhabit them. He shrugged it off, but filed it at the back of his mind, as he walked into the cave, slightly anxious.

Gible continued next to him, and seemed to love being inside a cave. Ash assumed this was because he was a partial Ground Type, and the cave was more like what would be the habitat of a Pokémon like Gible. The raven-haired boy smiled at the site of his Pokémon enjoying himself, that is until his starter tripped and fell against a rock.

Now Ash knew that just falling on top of a rock would not warrant much worry. He knew that his Pokémon would be more than capable of enduring that. But the fact that the rock uncurled, and tried to swipe its claws at the Dragon Type alarmed him. The rock had actually been a Pokémon, who now stood on two legs, glaring at the as it hunched over slightly. Its skin tone perfectly matched the sandy dirt, which explained why the small Dragon Type had been unable to see him. Its body was smooth, and it looked like it could roll into a tiny ball. Ash pulled out his PokéDex immediately, pointing it in the direction of the small, enraged Pokémon.

Sandshrew

Mouse Pokémon

It burrows and lives underground. If threatened, it curls itself up into a ball for protection.

Female

Ash was not surprised that he found a Sandshrew in the mountain, but he had expected the native Pokémon to be residing deeper within the bowels of the mountain. The Sandshrew was much too close to the entrance, for this to be natural behavior.

He had no time to ponder over this, however, as the angered Mouse Pokémon rolled itself into a ball, and tackled his starter with just enough force to topple him over. The Sandshrew then immediately turned around, and spun into a ball once more, before burrowing back underground fervently. This time Ash knew something was wrong, and he intended to do something about it.

He wondered if it would be best to go back to town and contact Professor Oak or the authorities. But then again, that would take him at least a couple of hours. If he went further into the cave right now, he could probably find the source of the problem. He would have to be a little careful going in, but he knew that he and his Pokémon would be able to handle any trouble they faced. He had already faced Team Rocket once in Viridian City, and he had done a lot of training since then. Heck, he had even gone and gotten himself a gym badge. Now, he knew that he may have gotten a little lucky, but he knew that Team Rocket was probably the largest evil organization in the entire region, and having been able to fight them filled him with optimistic confidence.

He looked back to his starter, and that optimism only grew. He had a great team of Pokémon with him, and he was sure he could handle anything thrown at him.

"Well, Gible, let's go in and find out what's going on here. Come on, the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get to our own exploring, eh?" The draconic Pokémon immediately nodded, agreeing to do as his trainer asked. The dragon part of him wanted to fight other Pokémon, and he got a feeling that desire would be sated within Mt. Moon, as they were sure to encounter both trained and wild Pokémon of a high caliber.

Ash grinned at the determination of his starter, which he himself mirrored in full. "Alright! Now, let's get a move on. This mountain isn't going to explore itself."

The duo began following the lights, believing that was their best chance at getting to the source of the problem. The boy was sure that these lights were the reason the Sandshrew had been so agitated, as well as it being why the Mouse Pokémon had ventured so close to the surface in the first place. So, the two began the venture deeper into the cave system. They navigated past the unruly path, which they noticed was growing ever so slightly steeper.

It was a whole two hours later that they two began to slow down, deciding that now would be a good time to stop for lunch. It wouldn't help them to be walking or battling on empty stomachs. Ash released Pidgeotto as well, before serving the two Pokémon some Pokéchow of their respective typing. While the two immediately dug in, the boy ate a couple of cereal bars he had in his bag, opting out of eating something that would take time to prepare.

Once the three had all had their meals, Ash cleaned up and turned to his Pokémon. "Hey Gible, I'm going to have to call you back into your Pokéball for a while." Almost instantly, a look indignation and shock came over his starter Pokémon's face. "Now hear me out first, Gible. You are a considerably rare Pokémon, and if we're going to be facing trouble in this cave, I'd prefer that whoever's doing this doesn't know about you. So, I think it would be best if you stayed inside the Pokéball for a little bit. I can't risk your safety."

Almost instantly, Gible grew annoyed by the idea, and voiced his opinion on it. "Gib-gib! Gible gi-gi-ble!" The gist of the Land Shark Pokémon's words seemed to be understood. Ash knew that his starter didn't want to get locked up in a Pokéball whil he faced danger, but his first job as a trainer was to make sure his Pokémon remained safe. "I'll have Pidgeotto out with me, and it'll just be for a little bit, alright?"

The two stared each other down for a bit, but Gible eventually gave in with a look of defeat. Ash was glad that his starter was understanding. "Ok, now it is not gonna be for really long, and in case we run into any major trouble, I'll bring you out, I promise."

Gible begrudgingly agreed with his trainer, as he was recalled into his Pokéball by the raven-haired boy. He then turned towards his Bird Pokémon, who was flapping steadily to remain airborne. "Come on Pidgeotto, let's get moving. This trouble isn't going to solve itself."

The Pidgeotto trilled excitedly, as the two continued further into the mountain.

It had barely been half an hour since they were walking, before they began to hear a strange, sharp sound. The sound only spurred Ash's movement. He sped up, now that he could hear something, and as he got closer to the origin, heq started to make out what the noise was. It had initially sounded like a sharp clacking sound, but he was soon able to tell it was more like the consistent clang of metal against rock. That did not help ease his worries, as his mind began to play out various possibilities of what the cause of the sound might be.

The path swelled outwards, expanding greatly to form a gigantic cavern. Ash crouched near the corner, not wanting to enter the area before he could better assess the situation. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, as a part of him grew anxious and slightly worried. He looked to his Pidgeotto with slight worry, but saw no doubt in the Pokémon's eyes. This gave him some confidence, as he calmed his frayed nerves.

He looked over his shoulder to glance into the cavern, and was surprised by the brightness it exuded. It had at least twice as many lights as the corridor he had just walked through. It took a second for his eyes to grow adjusted to the light, but he wished he hadn't as soon as he saw what was inside. He saw five men, using pickaxes to constantly break away the walls of the cavern. But more disconcerting was the fact that they all wore a pitch-black uniform. A pitch-black uniform, with a red 'R' emblazoned on its chest.

"Put your backs into it, men! We still haven't completed our weekly moon stone quota. The boss isn't going to be pleased with us unless we get the job done!" A shout came out from the cavern, from a source that Ash couldn't see. His curiosity got the better of him, so he leaned forward a little, and saw a large screen facing the grunts. On the screen was the face of a young man, whose hair was a sharp turquoise color, with a black hat covering the top. 'There is no way that is his real hair.' Ash thought absentmindedly, although he was intrigued by the moon stone quota. His eyes scanned the cavern until they landed upon a large, grimy box which lay in one corner. It was open, and was filled to the brim with pitch black stones, which Ash deduced were the moon stones.

However, the boy quickly grew horrified when he noticed a large cage resting next to the chest. Inside it were almost half a dozen pink Pokémon, all of whom were of the same species. Ash pointed his PokéDex toward the encaged Pokémon, wanting to know which sort of Pokémon Team Rocket was interested in.

Clefairy

Fairy Pokémon

Its magical and cute appeal has many admirers. It is rare and found only in certain areas.

Ash immediately realized that these were the very Pokémon that Professor Rowan had been wanting to study himself. He was more than sure that the reason Team Rocket was collecting them was because of their inherent rarity, even in Kanto, which happened to be their native region.

The boy was pulled out of his thoughts by the turquoise haired man on the large display, who continued to shout at the Team Rocket members. "Now, I want you to head back into the cave immediately, and don't dare come back until you have completed your quota!" With that final command, the screen grew pitch black, as the connection was cut off.

"Well, you heard the executive. We'll go back to the main cave, there are sure to be more Moon Stones there. March out!" One of the men yelled, following which four of them ran out of the cavern, from an exit opposite the one Ash was sitting close to.

Only one man remained behind, and was managing the large computer, seemingly rather bored. "I swear, this is the last time I'm going to be doing guard duty. Stupid Pokémon, nothing but a pain in the neck." He finished, with a glare directed towards the Clefairy held in the cage. Most of them flinched in fear at the look directed towards them, but a particular one showed no signs of fear. In fact, it walked to the edge of the cage, and sent its own glare back at the man, channeling as much rage as it could in a single look.

The man only chuckled crudely at the response, not intimidated by the Fairy Pokémon's attempt to frighten him. "Looks like we have a little rebel here, don't we?" The man kneeled down to look the Pokémon straight in the eyes. "Unfortunately, at this point, any fight you put up is useless. So, you might want to save your energy for a better cause." The Team Rocket member continued to chuckle darkly, only to be forced to stop when he was thrown away from the cage. He looked around in confusion, clenching his teeth in pain, cursing madly. Finally, he turned his attention toward the snickering Clefairy, who was evidently very pleased with itself.

A sudden flood of rage filled him, as he clambered to his feet, tearing a Pokéball off of his belt, and tossing it toward the ground. In a flash of light, a Zubat flew out of it, glaring at the Clefairy. "Use Poison Sting!"

The Zubat cried out at the Clefairy, before releasing a stream of venomous violet energy from its fangs, which flew straight at the pink Pokémon, dealing super effective damage. The man sneered at the Clefairy with smugness. "Seems like you were all talk, stupid Pokémon."

Clefairy did not respond at first, but eventually began to pull itself to its feet again, and directed yet another glare at the Team Rocket member. The man merely laughed, seeing the creature's state. "Zubat, I think another Poison Sting is owed here."

The bat Pokémon began to charge up his attack once more, but before he was able to release it, he was pushed away by a powerful wave of wind, which resonated through the cavern.

"You aren't going to harm those Clefairy!" The shout came from Ash, who ran towards the cage, coming to stand between the captured Pokémon and the older man. Pidgeotto was flying next to its trainer, ready for combat. The Zubat soon regained its bearings, and came back to hiss at the Bird Pokémon.

"Kid, I don't know what the hell you think you're trying to pull, but let me just tell you, you can't oppose the might of Team Rocket! Zubat, use Leech Life!" The man shouted, and his Pokémon spurred into action, rushing forth.

Ash reacted quickly, giving a hasty order. "Pidgeotto, counter with Aerial Ace, and don't hold back!" Pidgeotto cried its name out, before vanishing in a blur of speed. The Zubat and its trainer were both rather confused by this, which granted the Bird Pokémon ample time to strike the Bat Pokémon with its attack. Owing to the fact that Pidgeotto had an advantage in speed and size, it was no surprise that the Zubat fell to the ground, with swirls in place of its eyes.

The man began to grow afraid, as he looked toward the trainer who had just beaten him in battle, with a look of great apprehension. Luckily, Ash knew exactly what he would do with the man.

Five minutes later, the grunt and his Pokémon were in the cage, with the Clefairy having been let out by the raven haired trainer. The boy glanced around the cavern, before seeing the Moon Stones once more. He raced to them, and stuffed them into his backpack. He was glad that they all managed to fit inside the bag, because he wasn't willing to leave a single Stone in the hands of Team Rocket, ignoring the cries of protest from the lone Rocket grunt. As soon as he had the Stones packed, he got back to his feet.

"Ok Pidgeotto, let's go after those grunts. They're up to no good, and I'm not about to sit by and watch." Ash exclaimed, followed by Pidgeotto's trills of agreement.

The Clefairy, however, were more wary of going against the grunts. Ash was sure that was due to them having already been captured by them, and not wanting to go through that experience again.

Most of the Clefairy did not seem too sure of Ash's exclamation, as their ears dropped, and their looks grew grim. But one was in the same spirit as the rookie trainer, and it was the very same Clefairy that had fought the grunt's Zubat. "Cle-Clefa-Clef!" The creature cried out, and although Ash did not know what it was exactly that the creature had said, he was sure the gist of it was that the Clefairy wanted to help him.

"Ok, Clefairy, then we should go after them before they come back here. The rest of the Clefairy should just stay here to make sure this guy doesn't try to make a run for it."

The remaining Clefairy nodded in affirmation, before moving to the cage to surround it, causing the grunt trapped inside to scurry toward the centre the center of the cage.

Meanwhile the trio of Ash and the two Pokémon began running down the same trail the rest of the grunts had walked into. It was lighted just like the rest of the mountain, but Ash also noticed that many tools were scattered across the ground. Mostly old pickaxes and shovels, so they were not too dangerous, but it made the Pallet resident wonder how long it had been since Team Rocket had been occupying Mt. Moon and disturbing the life of the wild Pokémon. These thoughts only fueled his fury, and caused him to pick up his pace.

After almost five minutes of running, Ash saw a large hole in the ground. He didn't want to waste time, so he tried to navigate his way around it, only for Clefairy to react rather aggressively. The Pokémon began jumping in its place, while pulling at the bottom of Ash's jeans, pointing toward the hole. At first the boy was confused, but it only took him a couple of seconds to realize what the Pokémon was trying to say. 'So, the grunts went down that hole.'

Ash looked down into it, and saw that the ground was only a few metres down. And now that he put his ears to it, he could hear a familiar picking noise resonating from beneath him.

The Dragon Master-in-training braced himself, as he looked down the hole. He felt some trepidation with making the jump, but he realized that if he did not, Team Rocket would only continue to torment the Clefairy, as well as all the other Pokémon in the mountain range. That gave him just the push he needed to jump down into the hole, and land on his feet. Pidgeotto descended moments just as he did, with Clefairy held within its talons. Ash looked himself over, and was just overjoyed to not be hurt at the moment, but he did his best to push worries about himself out of his mind. At the moment, the safety of the wild Pokémon was more important, and for that to happen, he needed to track down the rest of Team Rocket.

A sudden realization dawned upon the boy as he thought of Team Rocket. He could no longer hear the sound of them using their pickaxes.

"Well, would you look at what we have here. A trainer who's strayed away from the mountain path. Are you lost, little boy?" The taunt came in a nasally voice, and as Ash directed his vision to the source of it, his eyes grew tense. In front of him were all four of the grunts whom he had been trying to find. Unfortunately, they were all together. The raven-haired boy had been planning on catching them all separately, so that he could pick them off one by one. It seemed like that was no longer a viable option. The only thing he could of at this point was take all of them on at the same time, and hope for the best. He calmed his nerves, trying to ignore the pit forming inside of his stomach at the mere idea of having to battle four people.

"Pidgeotto, Clefairy, get ready for battle!" He shouted, causing both of the creatures to take an offensive position in front of him, facing the group of criminals.

The man who had spoken to Ash, the one with the nasally voice merely smirked, as he detached a Pokéball from his belt. "Seems like you don't know who you're messing with, kid. Meh, that only gives me more of a reason to teach you a lesson. Whadda ya say, boys? Wanna teach this runt some manners?" The question was met with resounding acceptance, as the rest of the grunts also pulled out a Pokéball each, with sadistic smiles on their faces.

"I won't say we didn't warn you kid. Go, Pokéball!" The leader of the group sent out his Pokéball, which released a ray of light. The light materialized to reveal a Raticate, followed by three more bursts of light, revealing a Zubat, a Rattata, and a Geodude. Ash realized this battle would not be easy, as he glanced at his Pidgeotto, who seemed to a little hesitant to charge in. But he had no time for doubt, he needed to take action.

"Pidgeotto, I need you to use Aerial Ace to take down Rattata and Zubat. Clefairy, I don't know which attacks you know, but I need you to fight off the Geodude." Pidgeotto disappeared in an instant, causing the opposing Pokémon some distress, whereas Clefairy began to charge a potent Moonblast attack.

"It seems like you forgot about one Pokémon, brat! Raticate, use Hyper Fang on the Clefairy." The leader of the grunts yelled out.

But before the Rat Pokémon could take any action, another flash of light occurred, dying down to reveal Ash's starter Pokémon, Gible, standing ready for battle.

"GIble, use Iron Head to counter Raticate, quick!" The bipedal blue Pokémon was slightly confused, but quickly regained his bearings, before charging straight at the Normal Type. The Raticate dodged most of the attack, but was still grazed by it.

"By Arceus, if it isn't a Gible. Those things are supposed to be native to Sinnoh, and even there they're rare as hell. How'd you get your hands on one of them, kid?" The leader asked, his eyes glimmering with greed.

"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out." Despite his confident reply, Ash gritted his teeth. This was just what he had been worried about. Of all the things he had to worry about, having Team Rocket know he had an insanely rare Pokémon was a complete setback. But at this point, he didn't have any other choice. But he couldn't worry about that right now. He had a battle to win. "Gible, use a close-range Dragon Rage, as quickly as possible."

Thanks to the vigorous training it had undergone back in Pewter City, the starter Pokémon had no problem dishing out a powerful attack in less than a moment, only for the Raticate to sidestep it very easily.

"Raticate, use now to hit back with Quick Attack!" The leading grunt commanded. The Pokémon was covered by a light sheen, before it sped its way over to Gible, and jumped at it with its large body. It knocked the Dragon Type straight down, causing it to let out a grunt of pain as it landed a few feet away from the Mouse Pokémon.

'That Raticate definitely has Gible beat when it comes to speed, so I'll have to come up with a different strategy. I'm not going to get anywhere if it just dodges the Dragon Rage attacks.' Ash knew he was running low on both time and options, so he cried out his next command, just as Gible shook of the effects of the Quick Attack.

"Use Take Down, and charge straight at it even if it dodges!" Gible's form was coated by a layer of energy, which served to raise Gible's speed and strength as he ran to his opponent. Unlike Ash had expected, the Raticate did not move, and instead chose to endure the attack.

It chose wrong.

The attack had unexpected weight behind it, which shocked even the trainers to some extent. It knocked the Mouse Pokémon away, leaving it on the ground momentarily. It was still conscious, but after a few seconds of trying to pick itself up, it fainted.

By that time, the Zubat, Rattata and Geodude had also been dealt with, and the three Team Rocket members seemed much less sure of themselves now that their Pokémon had been knocked out. "Wait, kid, calm down. We didn't mean any harm. We were just under orders, I swear." The three of them soon burst into a tirade of pleas and apologies. But it didn't matter to Ash in any case. He pulled out his PokéDex, and used its emergency call function to contact the Officer Jenny of Pewter City. "Hello, Officer Jenny? Yeah, I am calling you from inside Mt. Moon, where I have apprehended three members of Team Rocket. They had been imprisoning Pokémon and even had the intention to steal mine. Yes, they're subdued for now. Ok, I will wait for you to arrive." As Officer Jenny hung up, Ash turned to face the would-be Pokémon thieves.

"Officer Jenny will be deciding what we do with you guys. Now the only problem is how we get back to your base." The boy moved to look at the hole in the ceiling which he had jumped through. It was far too high to grab, and he doubted the three Rocket goons would be willing to cooperate in any case.

"Looks like we'll just have to wai-aaaaahhhhh!" Ash didn't blame himself for screaming when a bright blue light lit up everything around him, only to fade away and reveal him to be standing in the Rocket base within milliseconds. "What was that?" He looked over to his Pokémon and the Rockets to make sure they were alright, and was glad to see that they were. They all seemed a little surprised, but no one was injured.

"The heck was that?"

Author's Note:

Hey guys and gals!

Ok, I know this has been a long time coming. And for the late update, I apologise, but I was suffering from a terrible writer's block, and I didn't want to force out a chapter. But now, I am doing much better with this story, and I plan on making more regular updates to all of my stories, including this one.

I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, do follow and favourite. If there was anyhting you liked or didn't, leave a review or shoot me a PM, and the same for any queries.

Well, stay safe people, and that's a wrap!

Peace Out

Kofukuna Shi No Kami