Hi! Sorry this took a bit of time. Every once and a while I need to take a break from writing. It's kinda hard at times. Also, I know TWIYH is lagging behind a lot, but I'll update it eventually. I'm honestly more interested in this story than the other. Sorry if this wasn't particularly interesting, but sometimes I have not as much creativity for each chapter. :/

Ash unleashed a sigh of relief as part of the anxiety that was overwhelming him was now gone. But he couldn't fully rest now since the issue with Misty still remained. He turned around and looked back at the gym that was getting smaller as they were heading towards the Pokemon Center. He was relatively pleased at how things went and honestly expected things to have turned out a lot worse since his expectations were initially quite low. Yet a part of him was still a bit upset that Brock felt that Ash was the main reason why he wanted to leave. It will always leave a feeling of emptiness and hurt inside, but at least confronting Brock would accelerate the process of fully recovering and moving on with his life without letting a grudge or bitterness. He got a badge which truly symbolized his hard-earned victory and now he had a whole new level of confidence in his pursuit. He was still feeling a bit happy and tingly after Erika had given him the hug, but he knew how much it meant to her when he said that she was amazing since he believed that not many people gave her a lot of positive reinforcement. But that was true; she helped Ash get back on his feet and supplied him with invaluable information that had undoubtedly provided the way. He owed her a lot, but he didn't know how to pay her back.

"Mmm...chop..." said the grey humanoid Pokemon as he was getting exhausted from the long battle (at least from his level of experience since he hadn't participated in a lot of battles) and was struggling to keep up with the others. He was having a lot of trouble walking, but he didn't want to rest because he didn't want to disappoint his trainer by appearing weak. He had come so far and disappointing his trainer was one of the last things that he wanted to do because he felt like it could potentially depress the other for not getting the results that Ash wanted. But at the same time, Machop could sense that the other was one compassionate person who wouldn't get upset if Machop wasn't perfect; the other had clearly stated that. But Machop was pushing himself to demonstrate that he had perseverance.

Ash and Erika, both of whom were completely focused on the way back, noticed the small cry from the other and Ash immediately stopped.

"Machop, are you okay, buddy?" Ash got down on his knees so that his eyes would meet those of his Pokemon. Did he push his partner too hard in the battle?

"Mmm..ma..." he said, nodding, but he didn't want to go back into the ball. Ash noticed the stubbornness the other was displaying and said,

"I won't force you to go in it if you don't want to. But seeing you struggle hurts me."

Machop took hold of Ash's hand as well as Erika's and then began to walk together. They soon arrived to the Pokemon Center and Ash approached Nurse Joy and informed her about his monumental (at least for Ash) victory against Brock. She applauded his efforts and took his Pokeballs. Ash then set Machop on the counter where she took him (much like before when Pikachu would just be healed while remaining outside of his ball) and allowed the fainted allies to heal. Ash made his way towards Erika, who was sitting down at a nearby table, and said to her,

"Thanks for supporting me throughout this all. It means a lot to me since I had a lot of doubts in myself."

"You're welcome and I'm so proud of you, Ash," said Erika with a triumphant tone and gave him one of her famous small smiles. "And you got a really nice reward as well. Sludge bomb. Not to mention the resolve you displayed is very inspiring."

Ash temporarily forgot all about winning that additional prize since his mind was merely focusing on the victory and on Brock. Now he just needed a poison-type Pokemon that could use it and gain more versatility in future battles. He didn't know exactly what he could do at the moment, but he was fairly sure that Erika could have some good use out of it since some of her Pokemon were also poison type. Poison moves were effective against just grass, which was ironic considering that was her specialty, as well as bug*, which she despised. She was not going to lie; despite the fact that Butterfree was pretty, she secretly feared him since he could use psychic moves and upon leveling up in the future would learn more powerful moves which were super strong against grass moves. A petty fear, sure, but still persisted inside of her.

"I was thinking, Erika. Your Pokemon know pretty much just grass moves, right?" asked Ash calmly as he awaited for the other to respond. He wanted to offer her even more strategy just in case she needed stronger moves and a better edge in battle versus depending on only one type of move.

"Yes," she said softly as she was wondering a bit what he was trying to get at. "Why?"

"I was thinking that...you should teach your Pokemon sludge bomb! Most of them can learn poison powder. But why not teach them something that can damage the enemy first and then maybe poison them afterwards? They'll get an attack bonus for being part poison."

"Hmm," mumbled Erika as she then entered thought. Weepinbell and Gloom both new the move poison-type move acid, but it wasn't a particularly strong move, and it was important to have variety, even if it was a stronger move of a type that already existed. They also knew a few physical moves like take down and double edge, but those moves had recoil which hurt them for a portion of the damage they inflicted. The true strength against poison was grass and bug, and the enemies who resisted it being rock, ground, poison, and ghost**, but Erika almost never encountered those types in the gym since the vast majority of her opponents would try to bring out a bird or fire Pokemon. It was definitely better to equip herself with something that would do dependable, though not especially spectacular, damage against any of the predictable types like flying or ice or fire.

"I shall accept it, Ash," she finally responded with a nod as he handed her the disc that contained the TM. Ash saw her take out Gloom, Ivysaur, and Weepinbell's Pokeball from her backpack and she first hooked up the small wire of the TM apparatus to the small slot of Gloom's Pokeball. He watched her mess with the buttons and soon Gloom learned the move! She did the same with the other two balls and Nurse Joy called Ash over to tell him that his Pokemon were fully healed. He thanked her for doing her job and immediately sat back down at the table with Erika.

Now this left Ash wondering a bit about what to do with the newly acquired leaf stone he got the other day. He wanted to ask Erika if any of her Pokemon wanted to use it, but he knew right off the bat that she would say he should keep it until his moment comes when he could capture a Pokemon that would evolve with the leaf stone. Maybe it would be one that was also poison so he could teach it sludge bomb. Still, Ash wanted to know something.

"Hey, Erika, I wanted to ask you something," asked Ash as he looked calmly.

"Yes?" she said softly as she looked into Ash's face.

"Why haven't you evolved Gloom or Weepinbell since they both can evolve at any time with a leaf stone?" asked Ash out of curiosity. "I've just been curious since it could help their powers and let you become an even powerful trainer."

Ash was wondering if the reason why she didn't wish to evolve her Pokemon was fear of being unable to learn the more powerful moves later in their current stage. Certain Pokemon were unable to learn more powerful moves once they evolved and could potentially put them at a disadvantage since they would have increased stats, but a poor selection of moves. For example, evolving Staryu to Starmie prevented Starmie from learning hydro pump, much like if Erika evolved Gloom now, she couldn't learn solarbeam as a trade off for the evolution. Erika in a way also didn't seem much like a fighter; she definitely displayed characteristics of a pacifist who would definitely not shirk self-defense should the situation require it.

"Oh, your question is without doubt reasonable, but the answer is simple; to make sure that they are happy," started Erika. She definitely appreciated the viewpoint that Ash was telling her, but for her, at least as for now, brute strenght wasn't what she was vying for. "Although from the perspective of a striving Pokemon master, strength may seem like the most important thing, but evolution is irreversible; I want them to want to evolve, and I'd be more than happy to do so when the time comes."

"Do you really want them to evolve, though?"

"I don't complain or lose sleep over them remaining in their current state, so not especially," she explained. "It would be nice, I suppose, but I'm in no rush whatsoever!"

Ash immediately began to think of the time he tried to pressure Pikachu (well, perhaps pressure wasn't the best word to use) to evolve into Raichu when they lost the battle at Vermillion City. This was the only gym where he actually won a battle fair and square, albeit with a relatively poor strategy since Ash could've had a better edge with Bulbasaur since being a grass type provided resistance to electricity. He could relate to how Erika felt in this situation and Ash felt kinda bad when he looked back since he was being selfish and only striving for his own personal gain and not looking out for his Pokemon's feelings. This was something important that he was going to consider in the future when the time came for evolution; put the priorities of the Pokemon first before personal gain, otherwise they may grow to dislike Ash in the future, and he certainly couldn't handle that again.

"That's cool; I'll be sure to keep that in mind!" chirped Ash happily as he gazed at Erika casually. Erika was so calming to be around and the more that Ash thought about it, the more he began to realize that this was how things should be. He and Erika probably had gotten into fewer disagreements in the month they've been together than possibly a single day with Misty and Brock, although that may be a bit of an exaggeration. It was a lot less stressful, that was for sure, but he knew that along the way he would encounter some hardships with her, as it was normal with any people.

"Ash, look," whispered Erika as she pointed towards the door and saw Brock walking in.

Ash wasn't able to see him enter because Ash's back was facing towards the door. The timing of Brock's arrival couldn't have been any more apropos and Ash approached the other with a small grin on his face. A small part of him-the part that longed for companionship and company-felt like he regained his old friendship now, but he knew that they would turn into friendly rivals, but he was fine with that. Everyone should be able to follow his or her own path and it would make future battles with him more interesting since he would get to see what future Pokemon he would train. Perhaps the evolved forms of what he had, Golem and Omastar? What if he started using Pokemon that weren't even rock type? Well, he already did by getting Zubat, but still, a little diversity definitely opened the door for more well-rounded and challenging battles since it would take the opponents by surprise other than a battle where the type that expected would be used.

Ash knew that this would be his moment to talk to Brock. Get it out of the way so that he could move on to the next step which would be to encounter Misty and give her a good tongue lashing for what she said not just on the evening of the incident, but also on the following day as well. And Ash definitely knew that Erika would get in a few words herself despite the fact that she already encountered Misty and followed Machop.

"Hey, Brock!" said Ash as he waved at him in order to get his attention. He was a bit surprised to the see the other here, but he knew that the other needed to heal his Pokemon. It saved a good amount of time of him being here since it would cut down on the trip back to the gym.

"Ash!" responded Brock to the other's call. He was quite pleased to encounter the others here versus trying to catch up with the other like initially half a year ago. Nonetheless, the older boy approached them and said, "Hey, good to see you again. Have you put any more thought into what you want to do?"

Ash nodded immediately as he turned to the other after briefly glancing at Machop and then Erika.

"Yes, I have indeed thought it over and..." started Ash slowly, hoping that the other could listen to reason, which he didn't know why he shouldn't. "I think it's best we go our separate ways. We both should follow our own dreams and you may be able to make some new friends. Some who may share the same dreams as yours as a breeder. I really hope you understand."

Brock didn't even need a split second to answer Ash's response. Brock was honestly expecting the other to say pretty much exactly that because he wanted the other to pursue his own dream, as well as the fact that Brock temporarily stay back at home so that they could get settled in with his siblings. It was a lot of work to take care of all of his younger siblings, but someone had to do it and since he had been taking care of them for three months before his father returned, he knew how to take care of them the best.

"No, it is completely understandable!" replied Brock with a nod. "I still have to help my father while he finds a job to help raise my siblings, but once things settle down, I'll be on the road again. Maybe if we are lucky, we will encounter one another one day!"

Ash nodded and grinned. "And when that day comes, I hope you will be willing to battle again!"

"Definitely," said Brock as he and Ash and exchanged a firm handshake. Brock turned to Erika, whom he knew probably still was quite furious at him for what he did, which he couldn't blame, and said, "I hope you don't hold any hard feelings against me. I know when I acted wrong and I really regret this."

"Forgiving is a part of my nature," said Erika as she looked over at Brock. "I certainly hope that the words you speak are true, otherwise you will encounter serious consequences in the future."

Ash and Brock were slightly unnerved by the words that Erika had just spoken. Was it a threat or was she referring that something could happen to Brock? Ash didn't see Erika as the type who would pursue revenge, but then again, he had only known her for about a month so he wasn't sure to take what she said with a grain of salt or not. Nonetheless, Brock acknowledged what she said by saying,

"I really mean this from the bottom of my heart, Gym Leader Erika, and I hope maybe one day we could be friends."

"Possibly, but for now we should just call ourselves rivals on good terms," suggested Erika. "I hope that you understand all that has happen and can grow from it. I also wish you luck on your Pokemon journey."

Ash turned his view from Erika to Brock again. "Brock, have you seen Misty after what happened? Have you spoken to her at all since you left?"

"I saw Misty about three weeks ago and she said she was going away to 'find herself', much like you are," replied Brock. "But I don't know what she meant by that. She may be back at the gym by now, but I haven't heard from her sense then."

"Did she...seem to show any remorse or anything?" inquired Ash.

"She seemed to outwardly not express it by her tone," answered Brock. "But to be honest, I think it was because she didn't want to seem weak. Her tone said one thing, but the look in her eyes said something else. All I have to say when you encounter her for another battle is to watch out. She also mentioned doing 'extra special training', whatever that means for her. You saw how I used different Pokemon. She may have the strongest Gyarados in her arsenal for all we know."

Ash gulped. Misty with a Gyarados? The mere thought seemed terrifying, especially when he thought of the time that they were shipwrecked and on that raft that got blown away from dragon rage. And he didn't even have an electric Pokemon to combat any water types.

"Your battle skills have impressed me a lot, Ash," added Brock again. "It was really refreshing to see you with new Pokemon. Well, Machop at least. I was beyond surprised to see your Butterfree return to you and how he was even able to find you. That's dedication."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," said Ash with a sigh. "If only I could find my other Pokemon."

"That makes no sense to me," commented Brock with his thumb and pointer finger around his jaw in thought. "It just seems so..." Brock hated what Ash's Pokemon did. He truly did, but he was trying to find the proper word to describe it.

"Callous?" suggested Erika.

"That's exactly the word I was trying to find," answered Brock.

"Have you seen any of them?" asked Ash with a bit of hope, but he was now accustomed to his new party that he wasn't entirely sure how he would react if his old partners returned. A part of him wanted to hold them in a tight embrace, while the other part of him wanted to give them a scolding of their lifetime, one that they would never forget.

"I could've sworn on my life that I saw Primeape a couple of weeks ago near the base of Mt. Moon, but I have no idea if it was yours," admitted Brock.

Ash was very unsure how to feel about this. He literally had Primeape for one day, so no bond had formed between them, mostly because the fighting type was extremely aggressive. But still, Primeape just walked on out. It would be extremely unlikely to find the Pokemon now since the fighting type would long be gone by now. Besides, Ash already had a fighting type who displayed very high levels of loyalty to Ash.

"Oh..." was what all Ash could muster with disappointment.

"I'm sorry it wasn't someone whom you shared more fond memories with," replied Erika as she put a consolidating hand on his his shoulder. Ash had told her about

The three of them briefly talked and then Brock dismissed himself after healing his Pokemon. He first had to return home before coming here to take care of his younger siblings for a bit, since his father still was not entirely efficient at taking care of them all by himself when he got home from work, which was an utter disappointment in a way since he should automatically know how to efficiently take care of his own children, although the fact of there being so many may have been one of the issues. Ash felt a lot better about all of this and was glad that Brock by and saved him some of the convenience of going over to the gym, although he wouldn't mind if he had had to.

Five minutes later, Brock left and Erika turned to Ash and Machop and gave them a small smile.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with it, this day, that is." It wasn't even about her, but she supposed that the sympathy that she felt was just a natural reaction.

"Yeah, I'll say!" chirped Ash with enthusiasm. "I can't wait to move onward and explore more of Kanto! There are more places in the cities that we can visit now."

"Chop!" exclaimed Machop happily as he, too, wanted to explore more and more of his home region. He didn't ponder about some of the exciting things about city life to the same degree that his human companions did, but he definitely appreciated taking in the surrounding fresh air and the environment outside of the mountain and cave he lived in before. He wanted to be Ash's Pokemon forever as far as he could see, although at this point he couldn't see why he wouldn't. Ash was very compassionate and had a lot of faith in Machop, a characteristic that Machop's parents fully lacked, so the process of transitioning from one extreme to the next (at least from his perspective) was a surprisingly easy transition.

"I don't want to be an inconvenience for my cousin and her family," confessed Erika a bit shyly as she turned to Ash after looking at Machop, "so I figured we should just spend the night here."

"That's fine with me," said Ash as he looked at the clock on the wall above the entrance of the Pokemon Center and saw that it was getting a bit late. It probably wouldn't have been the wisest decision to try and walk to Mt. Moon tonight, as there was always danger that lurked in the dark. Ash was sure glad that Erika was with him to provide good insight because if it was just Ash, he probably would've marched onward to Mt. Moon by now despite the fact that it was getting darker. Not to mention that each day was getting increasingly shorter as it approach the winter solstice.

Ash and Erika each showed their ID to verify who they were and they got a room to stay in for the night. Ash and Erika ate a small dinner in the basement of the center and soon headed to their respected rooms after wishing each other good night. Ash soon got into his pj's and got under the covers while Machop lay at the foot of the bed on the other side so that his body wouldn't be in the way of Ash's feet. Ash gazed off into the ceiling and quietly said to Machop,

"Hey, Buddy. I want you to know that I couldn't be any prouder of you."

Machop smiled after hearing what the other said. He loved the encouragement and the nice words of his owner and he said in his own sweet voice, "Chop."

"In due time, once we start improving more and more each day," began Ash as he was lost in thought of the future, "everyone around us will realize that the world is ours. That we can change it together." Ash bet that sounded slightly arrogant, but that wasn't his intentions. He was envisioning prosperity and good things and he knew that with his new friends that he made this would definitely be possible with a little effort, that he knew for sure. Everything was a lot clearer to him now and it was like...almost surreal, to be honest.

Tuesday, October 21st, 1997

The next day arrived sooner than Ash thought and he woke up really well rested as well as Machop, both of them having a good night's rest which was filled with pleasant dreams of success. Ash looked at the egg that was in his mended backpack. He constantly wondered what was inside of that egg, what new life form would come out of it and be his Pokemon. Would it be something he already had, or would it be something he had never seen before? The suspense and anticipation was practically driving him mad each day!

Ash finally got dressed and stepped out of the room and saw that Erika was sitting down on a chair, sipping on a tea whose fragrance was dispersing over towards Ash. It was so nice to see Erika each morning, signifying that she really wanted to be with him. At least for a certain amount of time until he could possibly handle things on his own. The very thought of Erika leaving crushed Ash, but she would be a flat out hypocrite if she did that, especially considering the vulnerability that still existed after enduring a lot of hardships. Plus, Ash had a feeling that Erika was harboring something deep down that she wouldn't admit to the other. He had been thinking of this off and on after that day they were looking for Daniel. What was going on?

"Morning, Erika," greeted Ash as he sat down at the table across from her. He smiled as her shyly looked into her eyes which seemed to sparkle even more so than in the past.

"Morning, Ash, Machop," replied Erika softly as she looked at the two, her eyes sparkling lightly. "I figured you wanted to get an early start on the journey to Mt. Moon, am I right?" Despite the fact that her statement was blunt, she was actually quite excited about what was going to come up ahead. She knew that along the way there would be a lot of interesting Pokemon and plants and trees, so it definitely would be good to explore areas that she wasn't familiar with.

"Definitely!" responded Ash as he adjusted his jacket and looked down at the boulder badge that he truthfully earned. Next to it was the Cascade Badge, the next one he needed to vindicate its tarnished name and earn it properly like a real trainer and then move on with his life.

Erika and went and got her bag and soon the two of them began to head out of the Pokemon Center. This would probably be the last time that Ash would see Pewter City, at least for a while, anyways. The memories that were made yesterday would forever persist in his mind as well as all the new ones he wished to create with Erika and of course his newly acquired Pokemon. Once the doors behind them closed, the cool autumn air greeted them and a smile that beat back the cold appeared on Ash's face. Being alive felt amazing at the moment and there truly felt like there was currently nothing wrong with the world if you took away the fact that the memories of Misty's betrayal increased more and more the closer they got to Cerulean City.

Ash turned around and saw the buildings of Pewter City get progressively smaller as they were now on the outskirts and Route 3 lay directly in front of them, leading them progressively closer to their destination. It was a lot different to be here on the scenic mountain route this time of the year since when Ash was here last, it was mid spring and the the trees had already gained all of their colors, and the scenic change was very welcoming. It was definitely a treat for Erika who was so used to seeing the plethora of skyscrapers that surrounded her each day and seemed to close off the sunlight. Sometimes she was honestly surprised to survive as long as she did in the largest city in Kanto without going crazy.

Erika had one thing that was still persisting on her mind and she wanted to get an answer. She knew that whatever Ash did was his own decision, yet she was still not going to ask because curiosity was getting the better of her and yesterday was not a day to ask since he knew that the other was still vulnerable from the gravity of the situation that happened. Fearow. What was Ash's agenda with the bird Pokemon and why didn't he use it against Golbat? Sure, it was very wise to use Butterfree's psychic attacks against the poison type, but it wouldn't been interesting two true flying types went face to face.

"Ash, I know that I have asked about Fearow, but..." began Erika as she was a bit skeptical with how this was going to end. She had the best intentions in heart, but still, she knew that any question about Ash's choices could inadvertently upset him.

Ash looked at Machop and then Erika and said, "It would be really helpful to have another flying type, but...Butterfree seems enough. I just didn't want this Fearow to cause any more damage to any of the Pokemon out there. I think the best thing to do is to send it over to Professor Oak and hopefully it'll help him more than it can help me."

Ash felt that this would be the best; Butterfree had a four-time resistance against fighting and grass moves, which were one of the strengths of the flying types, but the drawback was that he was twice as damaged from rock moves. In fact, Fearow was just weak against rock, ice, and electric, but was strong against grass and bug moves, while Butterfree had the additional weakness of flying and fire moves. It was really a dilemma, so to speak, but at least bug type moves were more effective overall than normal. As clearly demonstrated with the battle with Brock, with mega drain, Ash could easily take care of the Geodude and other rock or ground Pokemon here. But there was one last problem in Ash's decision: if he got rid of Fearow, he would be a hypocrite in a way because it wouldn't be dissimilar to what Brock and Misty did to him, not to mention his Pokemon. So why should he turn his back on something he captured? Indubitably he would find a proper use, but what now.

"On second thought," resumed Ash, continuing from the thought that was just in his head, "I'll keep Fearow for now. There may come a time where it will be useful. I just don't know what, though, considering how aggressive it is."

"Very well," said Erika with understanding and coolness in her voice, following through with what the other said. Machop smiled at Erika and he began to hold both her hand and the hand of Ash as they resumed walking through the area. In a way, it was almost like the two were now his new parents although by definition Machop was nothing more than the Pokemon that Ash had found, but still, it was the most loving he had received in practically...forever!

Ash recently had thought of Erika and her Pokemon while they were at it after she mentioned Fearow. He would let her catch an unusual Pokemon if they were to encounter one there since he wanted her to have more variety as well as battle some of the weaknesses of the grass types. Plus, it would be cool to see what his travel companion would catch next.

After about an hour and forty-five minutes and a few quick-paced battles (which consisted of novice trainers like bug catchers, 10 year-old lasses, and junior trainers) along the way, the two of them finally got to the entrance of Mt. Moon where Ash and his former companions met Seymour, the scientist who was ambushed by a flock of Zubat. The memories...also, Ash wondered if all the trouble that Team Rocket had left behind still persisted or if Seymour and other people from the museum had fixed the problems so that the Pokemon's behavior would return to normal. He certainly hoped so because Ash desperately wanted to break up the entire Team Rocket organization, but he knew it would practically be impossible on his own. But maybe...

Erika turned to Ash as he and Machop were looking straight ahead into the caver that was right ahead of them. He was determined to get through here faster since they he already knew a way to pass through, hopefully, but there was no guarantee as to what would happen.

"Be on the lookout, Erika," cautioned Ash. "There are bound to be a lot of Zubat and maybe even traps by Team Rocket." All of this was really strange; it had been close to a month since the last encounter with those goons and a lot of times it was harder to shake them off then bubblegum off the bottom of your shoe. Were they planning something or were they really gone for good, and if they were, what stopped them?

Erika nodded at the statement Ash said. She never before had traveled through the mountains except when she went through Diglett's Cave, so there wasn't really anything that she could expect, barring lots of darkness and Zubat. She didn't know how long it would take to walk through this cave, but she felt safer with Ash since she wouldn't worry about being alone, one of her biggest fears. She had dreams in which she would be isolated from all of humanity and didn't even have her Pokemon with her, causing her to break down on an excruciatingly emotional level. She wandered as well, since she was fairly sure that the thought had crossed the other's mine, if Ash wanted to pursue the rest of his journey by himself once he had gained enough confidence to handle being by himself.

"I'll lead the way," offered Ash bravely as they finally went in. The two humans proceeded and to Ash's amazement and relief, the path ahead was pitch black, indicating that someone had removed the lights or by chance the bulbs burnt out. Either way, this meant that the Pokemon safe in their natural habitat, but this also meant that they couldn't pass through easily since it was completely pitch black.

"Chop, chop," said Machop, confused as where to move since he feared that he could trip over a rock and damage his foot like he previously did in a different time.

"Oh, I forgot," whispered Erika as she took out a Pokeball and opened it to reveal Gloom. She commanded the Pokemon to use flash which then illuminated a couple of meters surrounding them so that they could see where they were going without disturbing the entire cave. The familiarity of the place began to create a surge of memories as they proceeded farther and farther down the path that they once went through a while ago. A group of Zubat were hanging on the wall of the cave and examined their surroundings as the humans passed them, nothing more than the very faint sound of wings gently flapping.

"Hey," said Ash as he saw a raised rock right in front of them. "This is where I got ambushed by the goons Team Rocket." He remembered that after his Butterfree and Zubat used gust in tandem to blow the crooks into an abyss, or at least it seemed like that. This piqued Ash's curiosity and he said to Machop,

"Hey, give me a boost, buddy. I wanna check something out." Ash wasn't entirely sure if there was anything of particular interest in the area that Team Rocket was, but there was certainly no harm in exploring. Curiosity was definitely something which one could consider a strong and weak point of Ash because sometimes it landed in a terrible predicament but there have been times in his life where being curious really benefited all. Hopefully he would get a little bit of good luck this time.

"What are you doing?" asked Erika as she watched Machop hold Ash up by his feet and gave him a boost, but he then had to use his upper body strength to pull himself up. Within a blink of the eye, he was already up on the ledge and Ash turned around to look at her and said,

"I'm a bit curious," said Ash as he offered a hand to Erika who helped herself up then he did the same with Machop after the Pokemon gently tossed the grass Pokemon into Erika's arms. Ash looked down into the darkness but there was nothing that could be found since it descended so much. But an idea came to him for him to figure out how to see farther than what he currently was able to.

"Hey, Erika," Ash started as he looked back up at her with a determined glance. "Do you think Ivysaur can lower Gloom down with his vines so we can see what's down there?"

"Would sending Rhyhorn down there be any better?" she asked out of curiosity since she didn't want her Pokemon to get hurt.

"Well, for all we know, there may be a stream or some water down at the bottom," commented Ash. "We don't know how deep it is down there anyways. So I think it may be better if Gloom was lowered down to see how deep it is. Then maybe we can find a different path that may connect to where I've been before."

Erika liked how Ash was being a bit adventurous, but at the same time she was worried that something might happen such as getting lost. But she was going to be brave as well and take a few chances, something that she had also longed to do. She took out Ivysaur's Pokeball and released the evolved form of Bulbasaur and Ash looked at him. He had gotten over the bitter feeling that he once harbored towards the other Pokemon, or so he thought. It was not an easy feat to look at pretty much a grown-up version of something that had betrayed you in the most unprecedented way, kind of like looking at the sibling of someone who bullied you.

Erika got down on her knees a little and said, "Hey, Gloom, we are going to lower you down with your light so that we can see what there is. Ivysaur will firmly hold onto you, so I promise that you will be safe. If there is something down there, I'll immediately return you back to your ball, so you don't have to worry either way."

"Gloom, Gloom!" said the flower Pokemon with a happy look on her face, excited to be of help to her companions. Ivysaur extended his thick vines several times around Gloom as a safety harness and Ash took out Krabby for backup in case some sort of Pokemon were to fly or jump up from the abyss. More than likely it would be Zubat, but there could even be some Golbat if they were unlucky enough. If that were the case, Ash believed it would be wiser to take out Butterfree as well in case he had to use confusion on them and whatnot. Surely since Mt. Moon was an early stage and had weak Pokemon, there was little chance that anything major would happen, but then again, life had a funny thing of making unexpected things happen, like a Rhyhorn in Diglett's Cave. Erika trusted Gloom; she would use her horrifying smell if anything were to attack her, and without fail up to date, it has stopped every Pokemon, including Grimer and Muk which are considered to be the foulest-smelling Pokemon in currently known existence.

Ash watched as Gloom descended down the hole, the light from her head illuminating the darkness that surrounded her and enabling them to see further. Fortunately for Gloom, this was a nice dose of adventure and help. By now, Gloom was probably about twenty feet down and Ash could already see the bottom that was less than about ten feet down, possibly fifteen feet since it was rather hard to judge from the angle that they were looking at. Definitely too far of a jump, so Ash said to Erika,

"How much weight can Ivysaur carry with his vines? I was thinking of Machop catching us, but maybe we can rappel down and you can use Weepinbell to help you also."

"Definitely enough where each of them could support our weight," reassured Erika as she took out her other Pokeball which contained her yellow grass Pokemon. Despite the fact that the Pokemon weighed significantly less than the two humans, they were more than capable of providing assistance to the two humans. Ash put Machop away in his ball for the time being as he was wrapped around by Weepinbell's strong and sturdy vines and looked at the bottom where Gloom was illuminating the path. Ash and Erika both began to slowly rappel down the edge of the cliff. He never before in his life had done something this adventurous and the adrenaline rush was an incredible feeling.

"Are you okay, Erika?" asked Ash as he turned to the blue-haired girl.

"I'm doing just fine; this is honestly fun!" admitted Erika to her surprise. Erika sincerely had many doubts and thought that this was nothing more than a bad hunch, but she needed more excitement in her life instead a lot of the predictable routine that she lived each day back in Celadon City, so this completely unpredictable course of action was providing her with a flowing rush of adrenaline through her veins. After about an additional 10 seconds, they finally go to the very bottom of the pit where Team Rocket had fallen and sure enough, the outline of their bodies was still there, pressed into the ground about three inches and covered with a light layer of dirt.

Erika merely winced when she could only imagine how painful that must've been, then looked to the side to see some footprints trail off into the distance that was of course shrouded by darkness. Erika was quite perplexed as to what lay ahead and the journey was now becoming increasingly more interesting the more she thought about it, at least in comparison as to how her life normally was. She was hoping that there would never be a dull moment in the trip with Ash, but based on how things have been, it looked like it was a promising future up ahead.

Now that they were on solid stable ground, they didn't have to be so cautious about where they stepped. Machop sniffed the air and soon, the two humans did the same thing.

"I smell a stream," responded Erika as that was obviously what Machop had gotten a whiff of. Ash did remember the time that they were chasing Team Rocket outside, particularly with Meowth, and Staryu used water gun to send the feline Pokemon blasting away with no problem. This more than likely fed into the larger river which was outside, so an underground pond or creek would more than likely look beautiful. This also led to the possibilities of finding water Pokemon, although Ash was already proud of what power Krabby had demonstrated. Maybe Ash could find something for Erika to use so she wouldn't be stuck with using just grass types, although he had to see what was ahead.

The two of them followed Machop who was walking alongside Gloom who provided the light for them up ahead. The quiet trickling of water could be heard up in the immediate direction forward and Ash was excited to see what obstacles or Pokemon they would soon face.

After about five minutes they finally arrived to the source of the water. It was a large spring and it was absolutely stunning. There was a large hole in the ceiling in the cave, possibly about 10 feet (3 m) in diameter and it was providing enough light to no longer require the services of Gloom, although her help was far more than appreciated. The light was on the water and the reflection of the water (don't know what it's called) appeared on the cave walls, very similar to how it looked like in an indoor swimming pool when the lights were low and there were lights in the water and one could see it on the floor. A few Zubat were flying near the light of the hole, wings fluttering softly as they were moving across the air. It all seemed very peaceful and it definitely appeared to be a nice place to wind down when experiencing a lot of stress, but Ash had a feeling that this was a part of the cave which hardly anybody ever saw since it looked like there was no traces of any human activity.

Erika saw that thankfully, and somewhat coincidentally, there was a path of rock that was easy for them to walk on. The water was making a soft trickling sound and at the moment, it seemed like the world was in perfect harmony and it was very relaxing. The waves of the water began to echo slightly throughout the cave and the two humans and Machop began to walk down the path that was circling a bit downwards. They still had about 20 feet (6 m) of ground separating them and the surface of the water, so they made sure to proceed with caution so that they wouldn't fall down into the water since there was no telling what lived in there. Hopefully something interesting so that Erika could catch it.

"This place is so...majestic," commented Erika in awe as she stepped forward to look at it some more, but the edge that she stepped onto was not particularly sturdy and it started to crumble right by her feet!

"Erika!" gasped Ash who grabbed her arm and pulled her as the rocks broke apart and splashed into the water. The two humans sighed and Erika turned around to look at Ash, slightly trembling from the disaster he just saved her from.

"Oh, Ash, you just saved my life!" she said as she instinctively hugged him (practically throwing her nimble body at him, really) as a way of saying thank you, but she caught her composure and looked at Ash with a crimson blush on her face which complemented her head bow. Ash's face equally matched he

"I-I...I'm sorry, it's just that...you saved my life just now and..." She was overcome by various emotions and was really embarrassed about the whole situation, even if it was a natural response to the kindness that he demonstrated, although what he did was just on instinct.

Ash on the other hand was equally as stunned when he felt the other hug him and she patted her softly on the shoulder. The blush that was covering her face was so adorable and "Erika, I just did what any person would do in any situation like this."

Ash saw a ripple in the water below and noticed that something pink appeared. It was something that he hadn't seen before when he was with the gang and it was interesting and believed that it was a Pokemon. He took out his Pokedex and pointed it at the figure and Dexter began to talk.

"Slowpoke, female. The dopey Pokemon. These incredibly dimwitted Pokemon tend to sit by the edge of riverbanks and use their tails as a fishing pole in often futile attempts to catch prey. Every once in a while, they can use surprisingly strong psychic and water attacks."

"A Slowpoke? How interesting," said Ash. A water-type Pokemon would help Erika balance out some of the weakness of grass such as fire and ice, but the one issue was that water and grass shared two strengths: ground and rock. However, some Pokemon had an additional type which prevented them from being fully weakened by grass such as Nidoqueen for being part poison, so having a water Pokemon who would have high special stats would give a better balance than a water who knew mainly physical moves and weak in its own type (Krabby). Plus, psychic would be good for warding off poison and fighting types whenever they encountered them, although Butterfree could handle them easily with the moves he knew. Still, it would be neat to see an authentic psychic Pokemon in action versus a bug one who knew the moves.

"Pooooke..." yawned the Slowpoke as she rested her head against the rocks gently, waiting for something to clamp onto her tail.

"A Slowpoke could evolve into a Slowbro and that would be great," muttered Ash lowly.

"Are you sure you want one?" inquired Erika.

"I want you to have it; you need something to balance out grass and Slowpoke can learn a lot of moves," suggested Ash, hoping that she would listen to him.

"I..." began Erika as she was astonished at Ash's words. Maybe it was a sign that she could still love grass tremendously, but still have another type for variety's sake. She didn't want to betray any of her Pokemon but thinking that she was going to replace them. "All right, then. Go, Gloom!"

Gloom stepped forward and she called her name, now waiting for Erika's command. The Slowpoke turned her attention towards her opponent, at least, that's what she thought since was a bit mentally slow

"Use your acid attack!" commanded Erika. Gloom shot out a large gunk of dark green fluid towards the pink water Pokemon, but Slowpoke somehow managed to kick it into high gear and a mystic blue aura covered the acid and made it disseminate throughout the entire cave, making scattered hissing sounds as the acid reacted with some of the limestone on the walls.

"Poke?" said the dopey Pokemon somewhat confused as to what just happened. The water/psychic Pokemon seemed unaware of the psychic powers she just used and Erika and Ash looked at one another in mild confusion. It was quite an amazing sight and it proved that the Slowpoke wasn't completely incompetent and potentially could be a powerful Pokemon.

"Impressive," commented Erika as she regained her train of thought of how to combat her opponent. She knew that she could flat-out obliterate it with any of her grass Pokemon, but she shouldn't be too hard on it. Based on the reputation which Slowpoke had, it would seem that it would more than likely take a few hits before using psychic powers, but each one was unique and it was impossible to tell how powerful or weak this one may be. "Alright then, I didn't want to use a move this powerful this early on in the battle, especially against a Slowpoke, but use your petal dance!"

Ash gasped at what he heard, but nonetheless, Gloom obeyed her trainer and she temporarily turned white with aura as cherry blossom petals began to float around in a majestic way. They swiveled around the grass type's body and then with great velocity few towards the pink Pokemon. Slowpoke did her best and managed to stop all but about maybe ten petals from hitting her, but because petal dance was already a powerful attack, it did moderate damage to her, yet she was still able to stand.

"I see this Slowpoke is putting up a lot of resistance. Let's see how she handles this. Use your essence, Gloom!" ordered Erika. Gloom unleashed a huge cloud of smelly gas that slowly made its way towards the pink Pokemon. Slowpoke was in a state of confusion brought upon by her own dimwitted nature. The water Pokemon started coughing in response to the foul gas and dove underwater as fast as she could go.

"Oh, well," said Ash with disappointment as he saw the other swim away, but he immediately took back his words when the water Pokemon resurfaced and shot back a very powerful stream of water at Gloom, causing her to fall backwards.

"That was one powerful water gun!" commented an astonished Erika as she helped her grass Pokemon get back on her feet. "That could definitely be helpful." She didn't know what else to do without knocking out Slowpoke completely, but she did remember that she had a few revival herbs just in case, though it wasn't her style to go all-out on wild Pokemon, merely her opponents when she was the leader of Celadon Gym.

"Are you going to let her get away or not?" asked Ash with anticipation as he wanted to see Erika catch a Pokemon. This would be the first time he saw a gym leader (or at least former, to be technical) catch a Pokemon in person; he didn't see Brock catch his Zubat, nor did he witness Misty capturing her Goldeen or Horsea. But to witness a grass-type gym leader going after a water type? This would surely be a sight to behold.

"Of course not!" answered Erika with determination as she regained her composure and said, "Gloom. Use mega drain!" A bright green aura surrounded the water Pokemon and beams of light returned to Gloom, showing that she sapped health from the other. The Slowpoke was badly injured by the attack, but still was able to stand, albeit wobbly. Slowpoke created an orb of water in front of her which then transformed into a brilliant aqua ring and flung it at the grass Pokemon, but Gloom was able to get out of the way. The water collided with a sharp low-hanging stalactite from the ceiling and part of it broke off, hitting the water with a giant splash and causing a lot of Magikarp and Goldeen to swim away in fear.

"We gotta finish this before this cave gets destroyed!" cried out Ash in desperation in fear that one wrong move could accidentally kill them, such as a stalactite collapsing on them, even though there was a good chance that Machop would likely catch it before that happened.

"Right. Pokeball, go!" called out Erika as she tossed the ball with excellent accuracy, hitting Slowpoke straight in the face. The dopey Pokemon was too weak and a bit dimwitted to resist, so the Pokeball signified its capture in a matter of a few seconds. By then, the ball had sunk to the bottom of the stream and Ash called out Krabby to retrieve it. Krabby made his way back to solid ground and the two humans and Machop followed him and Erika picked up the ball.

"Awesome! You caught a Slowpoke!" chirped Ash with excitement as he watched Erika hold the ball in both of her palms before shrinking it and putting it in her bag.

She giggled softly and said, "Thanks, Ash, for letting me catch a new Pokemon. Not I have a defensive edge against fire and ice and don't have to worry about birds or poison or bugs."

"Uh, Erika? Slowpoke is part psychic, hence, has a weakness against bugs..." admitted Ash.

"Oh, you're right!" acknowledged an embarrassed Erika who had a large sweat drop on the side of her face. "I was just thinking entirely of the water part of Slowpoke and completely disregarded the psychic."

"Now let's find a way to get out of here; we may get lucky and get to Cerulean City today, but I'd rather have the battle after a good night's rest."

"Definitely, since this walk is definitely getting exhausting. We should find a way out into the open and eat there."

The two of them continued for about twenty more minutes until they found the rock bridge and the location where Meowth ambushed Misty and she used Staryu's water gun to send him blasting off. The place looked pretty much the exact same as before and it was so peaceful to be with mother nature.

Ash took out his Pokeballs and looked at the one which contained Fearow. He wanted to let it out, but he had a feeling the other would attack him out of spite. He hated that he was in this predicament that seemed to not have any right or wrong answers. And this was something only he could figure out.

"Ash? What are you doing?" asked Erika with a bit of concern in her voice. She let out her other grass Pokemon so that they could get some fresh air. She noticed the other holding Fearow's ball and she felt that something bad could happen once he let loose the bird.

"I'd better be prepared in case Fearow goes berserk..." said Ash as he took out Butterfree's Pokeball. At least Butterfree could put Fearow asleep in case it got out of control. Butterfree chittered as soon as he came out and flew up to Ash and hugged him. The trainer returned it and said,

"I'm going to let out a new Pokemon of mine, Fearow, and I need you to get your sleep powder ready just in case," cautioned Ash.

"Weepinbell, you get ready to do the same, too," added Erika as she looked at the yellow flower Pokemon. With Ash and Erika double teaming together and possibly able to use sleep powder in tandem, there was little chance that Fearow could do much harm.

Machop was scared about what was going to happen, mostly because he was weak against flying moves. But he had to wait and see. Ash finally sighed with a bit of hesitance and he said,

"Fearow, I choose you!"

The ball opened and soon the large bird Pokemon appeared. The long-beaked Pokemon landed on the ground and began to inspect the two trainers and all the Pokemon surrounding it. Every second which passed made Machop and the grass Pokemon increasingly nervous in case Fearow decided to attack them.

"Fearow. It's me, your trainer, Ash," said the teenager. Fearow immediately diverted his attention to his trainer and was obviously paying attention. "It's been a while since you've been out of your ball and I wanted to let you know that...I'm sorry. I know you know that it was I who threw the rock at you. I was a lot stupider back then and I really hope that you can help us. If not, I can send you back to Professor Oak and maybe you can be of more use over there."

The Fearow began to think deeply about what his trainer's words. Would holding a grudge against him be of any benefit? No. But he didn't trust the human at all. Would there be a way they could work this out? It seemed apparent that the human was willing to participate, but Fearow as remaining cautious. There was no telling what the other may do. Fearow turned his head and Ash said,

"If you want to go to Professor Oak, I understand. I'll understand whatever you choose."

Fearow carefully inspected the ball and tapped it with his long beak and got sucked up into it. Ash said, "I guess that means Fearow wants to stay? I may use him in the future at some point, but I wouldn't really feel that surprised if he turns against me."

"Yeah, but at least he didn't attack us..." sighed Erika with a bit of relief. "We can now eat in peace now."

The two of them began to eat in peace and it was really lovely. They had a lot of time to talk and figure out what to do next and how to finally get out of Mt. Moon and arrive at the next city where they would meet Misty.

*In case I forgot to mention, but just as a reminder, bug Pokemon take additional damage from poison in this fanfic, while poison types resist bug moves. I honestly don't know why they changed it in the generations afterwards because we do kill bugs with poison and it makes a lot more sense than some of the other 'logic' behind strengths and weaknesses of other types.

**They do not know about steel types being completely impervious to poison moves.

Erika catching Slowpoke is an homage to her using Dewgong in Pokemon Stadium Round 2 and a semi-homage to Misty's Psyduck.