A/N: Holy fucking shit, this chapter was a bitch. All I wanted was for Ash to get to Mt. Moon. Then, this shit came along.

You'll see what I mean once you start reading. Talk about getting side-tracked.

A short note for any new followers:

Unlike my other current project, The Snitch Effect – which is, by the way, currently on hiatus – I won't have an update schedule, simply because it's much more relaxed to update whenever I want rather than continuously pump out a chapter a week. It makes the chapters feel rather rushed, in my opinion. I can promise, however, to always put out a chapter every two weeks, and I'll aim for doing one every week, but no promises. Really, it's whatever works best for me, and I haven't found that yet.

Also, a ton of thanks for my lovely Beta, LonelyStarling, for reading through this chapter. You were a great help, as always ^^

-The Baron

Part 1: Birth

Episode 2: De la Terre à la Lune

"Wise men talk because they have something to say;
"Fools, because they have to say something."
-Plato, circa 380 B.C.

"So, what Pokémon have you got?" Ash blinked when Nobunaga – because, as the wannabe Samurai had explained, he preferred the old-school style of Johtovian introduction (that of surname first) over the new-school Kalosian surname-last version, which had quickly taken the world by storm – spoke up after nearly half an hour of walking, and glanced over from his Pokédex with a raised eyebrow.

After their brief yet quite destructive battle, Nobunaga had told Ash that he was going to Mt. Moon, to look for stronger trainers beyond Pewter City. Since they were headed in the same direction, they'd decided to travel together for the time being, and had been travelling in comfortable silence thenceforth. It was the first time either of them had spoken up, and Nobunaga flushed under Ash' look. "Hey, you might have a nifty little device to look at, but the most I've got is a massive book, an encyclopaedia of the Kanto and Johto Pokémon, which isn't exactly comfortable to read while walking."

Ash nodded, understanding his new acquaintance's need for conversation, and snapped his Pokédex shut, clipping it back next to his Pokéballs on the belt Delia had packed him. "Well, I've got Larvesta, and that's it." One corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile when Larvesta purred comfortably, and he reached a hand up to scratch her behind her ears.

Nobunaga's eyebrows disappeared into his hair, which suddenly hung quite low, now that he'd gotten rid of his helmet – Ash had been around Daisy and her band of giggling accomplices enough to know what girls might consider 'handsome', and it made him wonder why the boy bothered to hide his face behind such an uncomfortable piece of headwear. "What, seriously?"

"Well, yeah." Ash shrugged. "I've only been on the road for a month, and the only Pokémon that habitats the area in between Pallet Town and Pewter with any substantial regularity that I might want to use is a Pikachu, and they're as rare as they come."

"But –" Nobunaga spluttered – "You're ridiculously strong! You must've been on the road for months on end, at least!"

Unable to hold back a smile, Ash glanced up at Larvesta, who had closed her eyes contently. "That's all Larvesta, I'm afraid. I've got nothing to do with it." Larvesta's one-eyed glare made it perfectly well known what she thought of that, and Ash quickly amended his statement. "Well, maybe I give Larvesta directions here and there, but really, it's all her. But aside from your Pinsir, what do you have?"

Nobunaga shrugged. "Well, I've been trying to train up a particularly powerful Caterpie I caught a couple of weeks ago, not that far away from here." He frowned. "She evolved a while ago, but with Metapod being Metapod, I'm sure you can imagine how well that's going for me."

"Damn." Ash winced in sympathy. "I feel sorry for you, honestly."

"Well, now that you've shown me the versatility of String Shot, it might not be so bad." Nobunaga shrugged. "I mean, if Metapod could launch herself up into a tree and then use the momentum to make a club out of her body, she could actually do some damage."

"Yeah, I'm not about to try that with Larvesta." Ash winced again, already imagining the possible deadly outcomes of that situation, not nearly all of them ending in Larvesta's favour. "But yeah, with Metapod being as resilient as it is, it would be a valid tactic, especially if you get a Harden up." He blinked. "Where did you find Pinsir, anyway? And how did you get such an amazing TM on him? I can't imagine that you were rich enough to just buy an Earthquake – they're going for thousands of Pokédollars, I've heard, and that's if you get them cheaply."

Nobunaga suddenly looked quite uncomfortable. "I… Pinsir was my starter." He answered shortly. "He came with the TMs when I got him, a couple of weeks ago." Ash was going to ask further – like how the Pinsir was so damn strong if he'd been given to Nobunaga only a few weeks ago – but Nobunaga shook his head. "It's personal, and I'm not going to elaborate."

"Fair enough." Ash acquiesced, turning back to the path, which looked to be about to re-join the main road. Pulling out his Pokédex again, he quickly checked the GPS-aided map incorporated into the software, and raised an eyebrow at the information displayed on the screen. "We're only a little ways away. Barely another half hour of walking left."

"Yeah." Nobunaga nodded, motioning on ahead – Ash was kind enough not to point out how happy he seemed to be with the change of subject. "This dirt path will meet up with the road in around ten minutes, and it's only a little walk to Pewter from there; you'll see the city walls as soon as we breach the treeline."

"How did you –"

"I had to have some way to get food, didn't I?" Nobunaga smiled a little, before upping his pace. "Come on. If we walk quickly, we'll be able to get to the Pokémon Centre in time for the free dinner they hand out there."

"Free dinner?" Ash' mouth salivated at the mere thought of the first proper meal he'd have since he left Viridian over half a month earlier, and he ran forwards, grabbing Nobunaga by the arm as he passed. "Come on! Dinner!"

"Hey – wait!" Nobunaga cried out in alarm as he was suddenly dragged along, nearly slamming headfirst into a branch Ash had ducked under. "Hold up! Dammit, Ash!"

Ash didn't even pay attention to his new friend's distressed calls or Larvesta's annoyed titters as she was forced to String Shot his shoulder so as to not fall off, the imaginary ringing of a dinner bell clouding up his mind like a Rain Dance to blue skies.

Oo0oO

Barely half an hour later, Ash sat back in his chair, rubbing his stomach comfortably. "Yeah, that's the stuff. Way better than Oran berries, I'll tell you that much."

Nobunaga, who was still eating his – rather small, in Ash' opinion – steak, sweatdropped. "So you drag us here, practically dislocating my shoulder in the process, scare the chef into making you a two ounce steak, wolf it down within ten seconds, and feel that half an hour of rushing was totally worth it, just for that?"

Ash stilled for a second, before nodding and sinking a little further into his chair. "Pretty much, yeah. But to be fair, I haven't eaten meat in nearly three weeks, so I'm allowed to act exorbitant for once."

"'For once?'" Nobunaga echoed with a smirk. "I wonder if, if I call your mother, she'll say the same thing."

"Probably not." Ash grimaced, and Nobunaga snorted around his steak. "Still, it wasn't me that did the scaring – that was all Larvesta's fault."

"True." Nobunaga nodded, swallowing. "Never thought the little bug had it in her, even after the number she did on Pinsir."

"Speaking of." Ash motioned towards the approaching nurse, who was carrying two Pokéballs, with a nod, and Nobunaga turned to look.

"Here you go!" She smiled kindly, depositing the two balls on the table. "They're all healed up, now. Pinsir had some second-degree burns, but a Burn Heal took care of that."

"Thanks, nurse." Nobunaga nodded gratefully, clipping the two balls back on his belt. The nurse merely smiled, before walking back to her counter, where a Chansey was manning the desk and not doing such a good job of it, if the trainer on the other end's frustrated gesturing was any indication.

"Aren't you going to let them out to eat?" Ash asked curiously, but Nobunaga nearly choked on his steak laughing. Ash scowled. "If I'm wrong, just say so. Don't laugh."

Nobunaga held up one hand as he tried to stop himself from choking on his food, coughing loudly. When he'd finally recovered, he sighed, and cut another piece from his steak, which he speared on his fork. "Pinsir is… volatile, at the best of times." He shrugged as he chewed on the meat, swallowing briefly before continuing. "The Pinsir you saw before the battle – that's what he's like when out in the open, on grasslands, or in forests, or whatever. He's rather kind. But when confined in small spaces, like caves, the Pokécentre, or just inside in general, he gets violent, to say the least."

The kid grimaced. "He can release this energy into a battle, and he'll get even more powerful than normally, which is quite helpful in Gym battles, actually – Brock was rather easy to defeat, given his reputation. But if he isn't able to get off, if you will, he'll pick a fight himself, not discriminating between babies, elderly, or a Gym Leader's Pokémon, or even between Pokémon and humans."

"Ah." Ash nodded, glancing at Larvesta, who was munching away on a massive pile of leaves a little ways away. "I have to say, I'm glad Larvesta isn't like that. But what about Metapod? She should be fine."

"Cocoon Pokémon don't need sustenance." Nobunaga explained. "Well, they do, but they don't actually need to eat – at least, not from an extra-bodily source." Ash was just confused, and Nobunaga sighed. "I'm not doing a good job of explaining it, am I?" He asked rhetorically. "Basically, there's a Pokémon inside the cocoon, which, according to scientists, looks like something in between a Caterpie and a Butterfree, in Metapod's case – Kakuna, meanwhile, looks like something in between a Weedle and Beedrill, and Cascoon and Silcoon – well, you can imagine." Ash nodded silently. "The cocoon they're wrapped in – it contains all the stuff needed to survive. So whenever the Pokémon inside the cocoon gets hungry, they just take a bite out of the cocoon."

"But shouldn't Beedrill have hunted them down, then, to get an easy meal?" Ash asked curiously. Nobunaga shook his head.

"Not exactly. The stuff tastes something like tar, for one, according to those professional tester people who check if stuff is fit for human consumption, but it's also got something to do with sustaining a good ecosystem – at least, that's how Professor Birch explained it, in one of those TV cursus things Professors like to do." Nobunaga shrugged, and stuffed another piece of steak in his mouth. "I don't remember all of it, but it was something along the lines of Butterfree ensuring that plants and stuff keep growing and repopulating, and other species feeding off of those plants. Same thing with Dustox and Butterfree."

"And what prevents other species from eating Kakuna shells? Aside from the tar, of course, but I don't think that Pokémon really care about flavour, given some of the flavours of Pokémon food."

"Poisonous substances." Nobunaga explained simply, swallowing a new piece of steak. "A Beedrill's – or Dustox' – poison isn't dangerous in small substances, but during the transition from larvae to whatever, they make so much of the stuff that even a small bite could make a Poison-type sick for days."

"Damn." Ash wrinkled his nose, and reached over to pet a purring Larvesta, who had (finally) finished her meal. "Again, I'm glad that Larvesta's not like that."

Nobunaga snorted. "Doesn't mean that she isn't dangerous. I wouldn't want to touch one of those torches while it's burning."

Ash winced at the thought.

Oo0oO

"So what are you doing today?" Ash asked curiously the next morning, generously lathering his sandwich with peanut butter as he spoke. After having been on the road for weeks on end, he'd given himself a day off before he went on, and Nobunaga had, of course, not complained in the least, picking up a stack of tourist's leaflets from the small rack on the Pokémon Centre's main desk while going down for breakfast that morning to look for something to do.

Nobunaga hummed thoughtfully, sifting through a small leaflet from the – Ash glanced at the cover – Pewter Museum. "I'm hedging between this," He tapped the leaflet on the table nonverbally, "and a trip to the north of Pewter, where – and this was just on the news – a massive herd of Growlithe and Arcanine are terrorising one of the smaller towns up there; see if I can't catch one for myself."

"Isn't the museum way too expensive?" Ash inquired gracefully around his sandwich, sending little bits of sandwich scattering across the table. Nobunaga didn't notice, too absorbed in his leaflet to pay attention to what was happening around him.

"Normally, it is, but not if you have the Boulder Badge, according to this." Nobunaga glanced up at Ash before he went back to the first page, and read out loud; "'Should you be able to show the attendant a Trainer's License as well as the Boulder Badge upon entering the museum, for one time only, entrance will be free – however, you will have to pay for a second visit. This is to promote-' blah, blah, blah. You get the idea."

Ash pouted. "Lucky bastard."

Nobunaga smirked, before returning to his leaflet. "Well, that's what you get when you have a powerful Pokémon. You'll be up here with me soon, I'm sure."

"You seem to have forgotten that Larvesta beat Pinsir quite handily just yesterday afternoon." Ash pointed out.

"That's just type effectiveness, though." Nobunaga shrugged. "But I suppose my victory over Brock was, too; a single Earthquake was all it took to take care of his Onix."

"And it was his weakest Onix, too, if the Boulder Badge was your first." Ash grinned. Nobunaga paused briefly in his reading, before he sighed.

"You know, I was feeling quite pleased with myself over my easy victory, and now you had to go and ruin that. Great job, Party McPooper."

"I try." Ash' grin grew, before taking one of the leftover leaflets for himself, his sandwich having long since disappeared to the confines of his stomach. "That's another museum leaflet, can't do that – some sort of movie night, no thanks – a cursus on Pokémon type weaknesses and resistances, because everyone needs that, obviously –"

"Hey." Nobunaga interrupted suddenly, sounding quite urgent. Ash glanced over with a raised eyebrow, to find that his friend(?) had abandoned his leaflet, and was instead staring at Ash seriously. "Did you know that Fire-type attacks are good to use against Bug-types?"

Ash gasped in mock bafflement. "No. You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am." Nobunaga nodded, somehow keeping his mouth from making as much as a twitch. "All Bug-types are naturally attracted by fire, but if they get set on fire, they'll panic, because their shells are too weak to resist such destructive power."

"Wow." Wide-eyed and blinking, Ash' gaze turned towards his plate where he stared, fixated on a non-existent spot. "Dude, that's – that's ground-breaking. That discovery will change the way we think about Pokémon. You should publish that thesi-what'sit. It'll make you world-renowned in, like, less than no time flat."

"I know. And want me to tell you something else?"

"What?"

"Grass-types are weak to fire, too."

"Dude."

Nobunaga snorted at Ash' mock stupefied look, unable to hold back a grin any longer, and Ash chuckled. "All jokes aside, I do need a place to go today, because I'm not about to hang around in the Pokécentre for twelve goddamn hours without doing something else in the meantime."

"You could just pay the fine and go to the museum with me." Nobunaga offered, and Ash blinked.

"Not gonna go for the Growlithe?"

"No, because I just realised that I'm not going to be able to make it there and back again within one day, unless I spend a ton of money to get a Pidgeot Taxi into the near-literal middle of nowhere." Nobunaga shrugged. "Might as well spend some extra time in the museum looking at their samurai collection than spend two hundred bucks and an entire day going back and forth for a single Pokémon, and one that will need a bloody evolutionary stone worth a couple of thousand bucks to boot."

"True." Ash nodded, glancing over the leaflets scattered across the table. "Well, I'm not going to pay fifty bucks that I need for rations and water to look at some stuffy items, so that's out of the window already. Most of this is unattractive, though – a tour through the mall? What the hell were they – hold on, what is this?"

Reaching forwards into the stack, Ash pulled on the small blue corner of something buried beneath other stuff, and blinked when he read the title. "Pewtering into the Pewter Mines? What?"

"I looked it over already." Nobunaga interjected helpfully as Ash started to read. "It's a tour of the old Pewter Mines – you know, the old-old-old ones to the west, the ones they shut down before we were even born due to some cave-in or other. Apparently, it's been cleared for public access, though hardly anyone dares to go in; that's probably the reason why the entrance fee is only ten bucks. Some couple named Jasmine and Jeremy run the place – though I can't imagine how they stay in business, with the amount of people that come through there."

"Yeah, it says so here. 'We're Jasmine and Jeremy, a pair of ex-' blah, blah, blah." Ash imitated, tapping a little section of the leaflet, before scanning the next page as Nobunaga scowled a little. "Hm. This says that they think it was a Pupitar that caused the cave-in; seems rather odd when you think about it, really. Pupitar aren't very heavy hitters, and using something like Earthquake while you're underground yourself seems like a stupid thing to do."

"Does it matter any?" Nobunaga asked rhetorically, cutting his own sandwich into two easily edible pieces. "If you want to look at a mine, you can just go to the new mines – there's a tour brochure here, for fifteen bucks. Or you can even go to Mt. Silver, to the massive silver mines they have under there. I'm sure they'd have someone give you a tour if you asked; they've done it in the past, I'm sure."

"Yeah, but going to the new mines will take more than one day – they're way farther away, remember? – and I can't imagine how boring it would be to do something like that without even having the danger of encountering a wild Geodude." Ash smirked, and glanced over the brochure for the 'old-old-old' mines again. "Let's see – I'm going to have to take a Pidgeot there, I think. According to this, there's a Mantine service that passes by, but it doesn't stop there, just flies straight through, and I'm not about to jump down from a flying Pokémon. Well, from a flying anything, really."

"Plus, taking a Mantine is expensive as hell." Nobunaga pointed out, swallowing a bite of his sandwich. "Maybe it's around five bucks if you need to go somewhere popular and easily accessible – just hop on with a few other people – but to take one out for yourself, that'd cost you as much as going to the museum, if not more."

"True." Ash nodded in agreement, wiping some of the crumbs he'd accidently spat across the table earlier off the brochure with a wrinkled nose. "What about it, Larvesta?" He asked, turning to the small Bug-type curiously. "Do you want to go with? Or do I need to leave you with Nobunaga for the day?"

Larvesta shot him a look, as if saying that it should have been obvious from the start, and Ash chuckled. "Of course. Well, come on, we're going to the mart, and then straight to the Pidgeot station – if we leave now, we might still be able to catch the morning rates. That'll save us some money for the journey ahead."

Ash tipped his hat to Nobunaga in a nonverbal goodbye and jogged out of the store, Nobunaga's chuckle and a slightly mocking tip of his helmet following him and Larvesta out of the restaurant and into the open air of Pewter City. Somewhere on a ranch on the outskirts of the city, a Pidgeot was sitting, its feathers stamped all over with his name and the relatively cheap morning rates. However, as Ash reminded himself, he had to get supplies first, before he took off for the old mines.

One cannot go down a path, however short and irrelevant, without sustenance, after all.

Oo0oO

"This should be it, Erasmus." Ash directed, closing his Pokédex and its map with a loud SNAP that he could barely hear over the loud winds. The Pidgeot he'd hired for his trip to the mines rumbled in acknowledgement and started slowing down, circling around their destination several times before flapping his powerful wings once, landing them only slightly uncomfortably onto the solid rock near the entrance of the mines. With a grunt, Ash heaved himself off of the massive bird, and stumbled a couple of steps before he was able to stabilise himself enough to turn back around.

"Thank you." Ash offered, bowing graciously for the prideful Pidgeot that had escorted him to his destination in little less than two hours. Erasmus peered down at him with one large, imperious eye, before nodding surprisingly kindly, and taking off with one single massive beat of his wings that nearly sent Ash sprawling backwards. Coughing and exhaling aggravated sand by the bucketful, he peered at the direction that the Pidgeot had flown off towards, suddenly feeling quite stupid, because how the hell was he supposed to get back?

That was a question for later, however, because the large mouth of the abandoned mines loomed before him invitingly, and he desperately wanted to go in, but first, he needed to do one thing.

"Come on out, Larvesta!"

With a short red flash, Larvesta appeared, sitting on Ash' hat like usual. Ash grinned up at her, before turning to the mouth of the cave, and striding forwards, intent on discovering its deepest, darkest secrets within minutes of entering –

"And where do you think you're going, little guy?"

Flinching in surprise, Ash turned around to face the person that had suddenly appeared, standing right beside him. The man smirked, and stepped to the side, so that he blocked the way to the cave.

"If you want in, kiddo, and I'll need to go with." The man almost purred, sounding quite dangerous. "There's plenty of dangerous things down there – oh yes, very, very dangerous things – and something might happen if I don't come. Something… bad."

"…Who are you? Are you Jeremy?" Ash hedged, backing away slightly from the strange man.

"Jeremy?" The man chuckled, though it was a freezing, soul-chilling kind that made a shiver crawl up Ash' spine. "You may call me 'Jeremy', if you wish. All I am, however, is a man trying to do make an honest stack of money."

"You're the one from the brochure, then? And – and you want to make ten bucks? That's the stack you're referring to, right?" Ash was actively backing away now, though the man was simply following, not allowing him an inch of space.

The smirk still on Jeremy's face grew wider, and significantly scarier. "You could say that, yes." He said smoothly, coming closer to Ash. "Ten bucks, kid. That's all."

"Yeah, right. Look, I'm just gonna go now." Ash chuckled nervously, backing away even further. "I'll just walk back to Pewter. Goodbye, sir."

'Jeremy' chuckled again. "You're not getting away that easily, I'm afraid." His eyes hardened. "Golbat, screech."

A skull-rattling, mind-numbingly loud screech from somewhere behind him was the last thing Ash heard before he passed out, collapsing into a painful heap together with Larvesta on the cold, hard ground.

Oo0oO

"Oh? Who are you, now?"

Ash awoke only a little while later, to a loud, deep voice – but it wasn't the awake kind of awake, merely a sort of conscious unconsciousness. It felt like he was floating in darkness, slowly turning in circles in a disorienting manner. The voice snorted.

"'Conscious unconsciousness'. Not quite how I would put it, but yes. Your body is unconscious, but your mind is awake. I believe humans like to call it lucid dream, though this is most certainly not a dream."

"Who are you?"

The voice quieted at that, seemingly turning introspective for a brief moment before answering. "…I cannot answer that."

"Why not?"

"Because I do not know the answer myself." The voice answered immediately, not missing a beat. "I suppose that, one of these days, I'll find out, though I doubt that it'll be anytime soon."

"But everyone has a name, right?"

The voice chuckled, though it was grim. "All humans do, yes. Certainly not all Pokémon."

"You're a Pokémon?"

"Of course I am. No human psychics I have sensed are powerful enough to pierce the veil of sleep without aid, and most Pokémon have trouble doing so, especially the weaker species."

"Why'd you contact me, then?"

The voice quieted again, though it spoke up again soon after. "I do not rightly know. Curiosity, perhaps."

"Curiosity about what?"

"About the aura you seem to have – it's pleasant, but at the same time, my psychic abilities, powerful as they are, seem to have problems reaching you, as though you're something vile they wish to shy away from."

"So you're a psychic-type?"

"Of course." The voice scoffed. "That should have been obvious from the reference to human psychics."

"Right. Well, I don't know what you're sensing, but as far as I know, I haven't murdered anyone, stole a priceless artefact, or done some other thing to blacken my aura, if you will."

"I do not sense anything wrong; but that might be the problem. I should be sensing things that I do not. Perhaps it's merely the distance – I have not yet had enough chance to experiment with my powers."

"Where are you, then?"

The voice snorted. "I'm afraid that I have been left in the dark about that myself; the only reason I know it's a long distance in the first place is because my powers barely reach to where you happen to be at – wherever that might be."

"Really? Can you describe what it looks like? I got geography in school, I might be able to tell where you are."

Sounding amused, the voice replied, "Though I appreciate the offer, I have not yet had the chance to go outside; I heard some of the people around mention that they hate being in the 'HQ', however – and one mentioned preferring the 'Kanto' hideout, wherever that might be."

If Ash' eyes had been able to widen, they would have. "That – that means you're in another region!"

"And that is shocking why?"

"B-because no psychic should be able to reach that far!"

The voice snorted again. "I do not exactly fit the boundaries of what ordinary Pokémon should be able to accomplish, especially considering – hold on. A moment, if you would." Silently, Ash waited for the strange psychic to return, and when it did, it sounded annoyed.

"…I have been… asked to stop practising my psychic powers, so this will be the end of the conversation for now."

"Wait! Hold on! Tell me what I should call you, at least! Your species' name, or something!"

The voice was silent for a brief second, before it answered. "Currently, I am being called Project Deoxyri, though it seems like that might change in the future."

"Project?"

"…Goodbye, Ash Ketchum."

"Hey, stop that! Stop – stop that. Don't– …don't… put… sleep…"

Oo0oO

"Good evening."

Ash blinked when he was suddenly thrown back into his body, this time waking up for good. He looked around quickly, scanning his surroundings for anything familiar, only to find himself – backpack, Pokéballs, and Pokédex included, thankfully – lying next to a campfire, an unfamiliar squint-eyed person sitting on a log a little ways away, roasting some sausages over the roaring fire. A large sack full of something Ash wasn't privy to was sitting a little ways away, and a positively gigantic Steelix was curled around the camp, its huge head resting comfortably next to the unknown person.

"Who – who are you?"

The man raised an eyebrow at him, before grinning, and extending a friendly hand. "It's refreshing to introduce myself for once – don't get to do that often, with my job. I'm Brock. Brock Takeshi – but you can call me Brock."

Ash gaped as he weakly accepted the offered hand, his mind trying to comprehend his sudden situation. That explained the Steelix, at least. "A-and how did I, the boring Ash Ketchum, end up in the middle of nowhere with one of the main Gym Leaders of Kanto, roasting sausages over a fire while a Steelix sleeps a few feet away, protecting a vaguely suspicious-looking burlap sack typically used by burglars?"

Brock chuckled, depositing one well-cooked sausage on a plate before handing said plate to Ash, which he accepted with a thankful nod. "I found you during my raid on the Team Rocket hideout a little ways away. It was a pure coincidence that I happened upon it; some guy with a Team Rocket outfit was apparently taking a smoking break, and after a short session of interrogation – nothing grim, I assure you – he revealed there to be a small recruitment centre in the mines.

"I decided to take a small detour, and rounded up the operation – it wasn't too large, and even my Crustle would have been able to take care of it by himself." Brock explained, taking a pack of cigarettes – likely taken from the unfortunate grunt – from within his jacket and lighting one from the fire, though he didn't take a drag. "I found you lying in one of cells, knocked-out, and decided to take you with me." He shrugged, motioning to Steelix with the cigarette clamped between two fingers. "And if you did turn out to be Team Rocket – well, you can imagine what would have happened yourself." He took a long drag from the cigarette, expelling the smoke into a large plume straight upwards. Ash paled a little, nodding.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Brock smirked, depositing a little of his ash next to his log. "Where are the Rockets, then? Shouldn't there be a massive pile waiting to wake up and cause more havoc in the mines?"

Shrugging, Brock took a short drag, absent-mindedly blowing it off to the side. "I had Bastiodon hurry ahead with a large part of the gang on his back. They'll be out at least until they're safely secured within the Pewter police centre. The only reason I didn't go along with him is because I wanted to explore the mine system. Good thing I did, too, or I wouldn't have found you lying around." He grinned a little. "My second Steelix – my father's – was able to take the rest of the grunts within his mouth. A highly uncomfortable ride, and I'm not about to attempt the same thing when I can sit on top instead, but it is as safe as can be, if you'll exclude the potential of accidently getting swallowed."

"Nice." Ash grimaced at the picture, chewing away on his sausage. "And what's with the bag, if I may ask?"

"They're the grunts' Pokémon." Brock shrugged when Ash' eyes widened at the massive number. "I took all the Pokéballs they had, so a large part of the balls will be empty, but I figured that I might as well be better safe than sorry. And there's a ton of Geodude near the bottom, too; my whole point in being over here was to grab Geodude for the trainers starting out in Pewter. Over here, there are so many, even capturing as many as I did wouldn't put a dent in the population, unlike close to Pewter, where even capturing a dozen might upset the highly delicate ecosystem."

Suddenly remembering that he, too, had a Pokémon – but honestly, there had been so much going on that letting Larvesta out of her ball was pretty low on Ash' list of priorities – Ash tapped the button of his Pokémon's Pokéball, which opened with a red flash. Larvesta appeared immediately, buzzing agitatedly, undoubtedly having forced into her ball by 'Jeremy' after his Golbat had knocked them unconscious.

Ash reached over to pet her silently, and Larvesta quieted at his touch, blinking up at him with giant, blue eyes before bowing her head and closing them as she was picked up and held close by Ash, who slowly brushed her fur with the brush from his backpack, which Delia had packed him just for such an occasion.

…Well, perhaps not for an occasion where his Pokémon needed to be calmed down after nearly getting Pokénapped and forced to become a part of Team Rocket or be sold on the Black Market, but that was beside the point.

Brock grinned a little at the sight, letting another puff of smoke grace the skies, and Ash glared at him silently, promising pain should the Gym Leader tease him, which he could tell Brock was about to do. Perhaps wisely, the Takeshi stayed silent, instead choosing to lay himself down on the flat-topped log to stare at the cloudless night skies.

"…You should get some sleep." Brock said eventually, breaking the peaceful silence. Larvesta had already fallen asleep, and was resting quietly next to the fire, her naturally warm body only made even warmer by the hot flames. Ash looked over with bleary eyes from where he was lying on the cold, uncomfortable ground, and blinked, only just now realising how tired he was. "We'll need to be up early tomorrow if we want to get back to Pewter before lunch."

"You're not sleeping, then?" Ash asked, yawning.

Brock chuckled, depositing the stump of his cigarette into the fire. "I'll sleep." He promised. "Just not yet."

"Alright." Ash acquiesced easily, rolling over to lie his head on his soft backpack, feeling much too tired, even after the hours he spent being knocked-out, to bother with setting up his tent, or even getting out his sleeping bag. "G'night, Brock."

"Goodnight, Ash."

Oo0oO

It was early the next morning that they set off again, riding on top of Steelix' massive head at speeds they could never have hoped to reach on foot.

"Shouldn't riding around like this completely destroy the ecosystem?" Ash asked curiously when they ran over a couple of smaller trees in their way and Brock didn't even blink, a few minutes into their trip. "Pokémon's nests getting destroyed, and stuff like that?"

"Not really." Brock shrugged. "If you hadn't noticed, Steelix takes care to avoid anything he can; he goes around trees and vegetation and stuff like that, whenever possible. It's only when he can't that he runs over a bit of vegetation, and even then, he takes care to avoid anything that could house Pokémon." He shrugged again, motioning to one of the larger trees they'd just passed. "For example, bird Pokémon are likely to nest in trees, as are most Bug-types, some Grass-types, and many others. So he avoids those whenever he can. And Flying-types, beside Rock-types, are the only things that are around these parts, aside from the odd Grass-type – but those never build nests. Anywhere."

Ash nodded, suddenly understanding what Steelix was doing. "Right. Because they're plants, right?"

"Or mammals, yes." Brock added, nodding as well, before he paused. "Actually, the Serperior line are reptiles, as are some other species from other regions – but that doesn't really matter while we're in Kanto."

"Why don't the mammals build nests?"

"Because Poison-types will easily be able to find out where they're at and prey upon their entire family, and the Grass-types' natural disadvantage makes it, in most cases, kind of difficult to deal with them." Brock answered, shrugging. "I could go into much more detail than that, but it doesn't really matter, unless you're planning on becoming either a hunter, a ranger, or a doctor, which you don't seem to be interested in, if your extent of knowledge is any indication." Brock smirked. Ash pouted.

Oo0oO

Just like Brock had predicted, they arrived at Pewter a few hours later as it was nearing lunchtime, and unfortunately, Brock's thundering Steelix drew quite a bit of attention.

"Hey, that's Brock!"

"On his Steelix!"

"Wonder what he's been doing?"

"Oh, but if that other Steelix and that Bastiodon were his, too –"

"–Then was he the one responsible for mopping up those Rockets?"

"Hold on, there's someone on there with him!"

"Was that kid responsible?"

"Nah, he's a wimp. Couldn't have done much of anything, I'll bet."

"That's probably what the Rockets in southern Johto thought when Bugsy arrived, before she swept their hideout with her Scizor."

"Bugsy's a guy, actually."

"None of that matters! The point is, those two swept an entire Rocket hideout! That's incredible!"

"…The wimp probably didn't have anything to do with it."

"But what if he did? What if he's another Bugsy?"

"Well, it could be possible, I suppose…"

"If he's a prodigy, then he could have swept the hideout, while Brock just sat there, cleaning up behind him."

"True. In that case, the wimp has to be awesome. Like, incredible."

Ash, by this point, had pulled his hat to cover his eyes, and was trying to hide inside his jacket, though from the sound of Brock's laughter, it wasn't exactly working.

"You'll get used to it soon enough, if you keep getting into situations like this one." The Gym Leader chuckled, waving a little at some passing people he seemed to recognise. "Shall we drop you off at the Pokécentre? I doubt you'll want to remain around to listen to the Rockets being locked up, because you'll probably have to deal with tons of paperwork if you do."

Grimacing, Ash shook his head. "No thanks, I'm good." Suddenly, he blinked, and turned backwards to see if the street had cracked and crumbled like he'd thought it would, only to find spotless asphalt blinking in the sun. "Hey, shouldn't this have screwed with the asphalt? You know, because Steelix is so damn heavy?"

"It's all been reinforced to an nth degree." Brock explained, shrugging – something Ash had noticed he seemed to do a lot. "When the League started asphalting the roads, my grandfather made sure to make it extremely sturdy, so a Golem wouldn't shatter it purely from walking around. I doubt anything short of a rampaging Rhyperior will put a dent in this stuff – unless a Fire-type decides to melt it, but that's another matter entirely. I know for a fact that Jasmine's grandfather did the same thing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the forefathers of the other Steel- and Rock-type Gym Leaders had made sure to do the same."

"Smart." Ash complimented, looking around. "Hey, can you let me off here? It's pretty near, and I know that the Pokécentre's a bit out of the way from the police station, and the Gym."

"Sure." Brock nodded easily, knocking on Steelix' head like it was a door. "Stop, Steelix!" He commanded curtly, and with a loud rumble, Steelix ground to a stop, resting its head on the ground like it knew what its trainer was thinking. "You can slide off now."

"Alright." Ash nodded, pushing himself off of Steelix' massive head, and landing with a short stumble on the ground. "I'll see you, Brock! Expect me in a few months, for my Gym Battle!" He called, waving up at the Gym Leader, who grinned, nodded, and saluted, before Steelix raised its head and started thundering down the street again, quickly leaving Ash in the dust.

With a sigh at how weird his supposed day off had turned out to be – flying for two hours on a haughty and uncomfortable Pidgeot, only to get knocked out by Team Rocket immediately after and getting locked up would make anyone miffed, not to mention that he then spent the rest of the goddamn day knocked out, only to wake up again on the way back after being rescued by a Gym Leader that happened to be passing by, effectively wasting an entire day in the process – he started trudging down the path to the Pokécentre, feeling quite disgruntled at the Rockets about how they'd completely ruined his day off the road.

Still, he'd learned a valuable lesson in the process – there were people out there, people much stronger than himself, who would gladly harm or even kill him and his Pokémon if it meant getting a quick stack of money. So it wasn't too much of a wasted day, just a slightly wasted one.

Sighing again, Ash removed a hand from his pocket to open the door to the Pokémon Centre, intent on getting a quick lunch before moving back on the road for Mt. Moon –

"Hey, Ash! I've been looking for you!"

Only to be stopped by Nobunaga, who was chewing on a sandwich at a table, looking quite pleased with himself. "I've literally been looking all morning, 'cause you didn't come back last night. Where were you?"

"Oh, you know, over at the mining tour." Ash shrugged, sliding into the seat opposite of his new friend. "The entire mining business was a setup from Team Rocket, who ambushed me, knocked me out, and locked me up. Brock then came by and took care of 'em, and saved me from a cell, sending the grunts away on his Bastiodon and second Steelix while he took me with him on his first Steelix. Then, I woke up, ate a sausage with him, slept, woke up again, got taught a little about the north-western ecosystem of Kanto while we rode his Steelix back to Pewter, and arrived in time for lunch." He grinned at Nobunaga's disbelieving deadpan look. "You know, the usual."

Nobunaga stared for a few seconds, before shaking his head, and gulping down a bite of his sandwich. "You know, if you didn't want to say, you could have just said so."

Ash blinked. "No, it's true. That actually happened."

"Sure it did." Nobunaga nodded in agreement, though Ash knew the other boy was merely humouring him.

"Check the papers if you won't believe me!" He insisted. "They'll be full of the incident by tomorrow!"

"Yeah, sure." Nobunaga snorted around his sandwich, which he quickly gulped down with a splash of Sitrus juice. "Tomorrow, when we're away from Pewter, and won't be able to see it."

"But –" Ash protested feebly, "– but I'm not lying!"

"Sure you aren't." His friend rolled his eyes. "And I'm a Watchog."

Suddenly, Ash blinked, and tilted his head, squinting a little. "You kinda look like one, though."

Nobunaga stared for a brief second, then groaned, and facepalmed. "…Shut up. Just – just shut up."

Ash grinned.

Oo0oO

"Incredible, isn't it?"

Ash hummed in agreement, glancing at Nobunaga from where he was staring up at Mt. Moon with Larvesta, which, despite having been on the horizon since leaving Pewter a few days earlier, was a lot more imposing from up close; it was a clear day, without clouds in sight, and the quite literally snow-white peak loomed at an incredible two-and-a-half miles as one of the highest mountains on the To continent.

"Why's it called Mount Moon, though?" Ash asked curiously, and Nobunaga quickly leafed through his little guide book, trying to find the correct entry.

"Ah, here it says. Apparently, a meteorite crashed into it and dug itself way down into the deepest levels, back during the Era of the Warring Clans." Nobunaga explained, referring to when Kanto and Johto didn't exist yet, and the entire continent was instead split up in factions, ruled by clans such as the Wataru from Johto, and the ninjas of Kyō, from eastern Kanto. "The Yomi Clan, who ruled the area around Mt. Moon, thought that it was a shard of the moon, and started worshipping it as their god, sort of. Named the entire mountain after the thing. When Kanto became Kanto, one of the things the Yomi Clan asked for during the negotiations to get them to join was to keep the name of their 'holy mountain', despite the fact that the name Mt. Meteor might have been more appropriate."

"Doesn't sound as good, though." Ash pointed out, but Nobunaga merely shrugged.

"Didn't stop the guys in Hoenn."

"I think you'll find that they named that particular area Meteor Falls, which, if you ask anyone, sounds a lot better than Mt. Meteor." A new voice interjected, and Ash and Nobunaga whirled around to face a young, blonde scientist, who shoved his glasses up his nose with a small, superior smile. Larvesta tittered anxiously at her master's sudden action, but didn't move from her usual perch upon Ash' hat. "Plus, who says it isn't a shard of the moon?"

"This guidebook does." Nobunaga deadpanned, shoving the small book in the scientist's face, who scanned over the page it was showing with a delicate quirked eyebrow. "Why are you here, anyway? Doing your monthly count of how many individual Zubat there are in Mt. Moon?"

"No, I'm afraid not." The scientist chuckled, sounding almost mocking as he shoved the guidebook down and away from his face with a dainty hand. "I'm here to study the Clefairy and Clefable. They dwell near the upper levels, near where I, with the help of a couple of other scientists, have calculated the Moon Stone to be. There are, of course, other calculations, most of which project the Stone to be somewhere in the lowest levels – but they're incorrect, of course." He sniffed, pushing his glasses farther up his nose in what seemed to be a habit of some sort. "I was only out to get some equipment – not that that is any of your business, of course."

Nobunaga gave the rather narcissistic scientist a calculating look. "If you're able to go near the upper levels, you must be pretty strong. Are you up for a battle?"

The scientist frowned. "…Very well. Though, if we must persist in such uncouth activities –" Ash fought the urge to roll his eyes – "Shall you at least tell me your name?"

"Oda Nobunaga." Nobunaga grinned, unclipping one of his Pokéballs from his belt. "And you are?"

The scientist cast a disdainful eye over his adversary and his friend, and turned up his nose, getting out is own Pokéball in the process. "I don't think you really need to know that, Mr. Oda. After all, it has never appealed to me to converse in an intelligent manner with a lesser species, as attractive as some of my colleagues might make it out to be – even now, I find myself in need of reducing my usual vocabulary down to a standard a ten-year-old me would scoff at; I do not wish to dare to find out what would happen if I were to find myself in need of actively pursuing a halfway difficult subject with one as mentally deficient as yourself." He sneered a little, throwing out his Pokéball. "Take care of these Neanderthals, Porygon-Z. And do make it quick."

The Pokémon that came out of its ball made Ash silently question how such a weak-looking thing had, in the hands of the Scientist, been able to take out Oak's entire security system. While he'd heard of Porygon and its evolutions before, he'd never actually seen Porygon-2 and Porygon-Z, due to the exceedingly rare items needed for their evolution – or upgrade, because technically, they were data given a mind and physical form. Simply put, it was a balloon animal. A balloon animal that floated in mid-air, silently blinking at them like a Banette-possessed child's doll, looking about as dangerous as a day-old Dratini.

Nobunaga scowled, and tapped the release button on his own Pokéball, sending Pinsir, who seemed to have fully recovered from Larvesta's assault two days earlier, out onto the field. The bug-type roared an enthusiastic greeting, clacking his pincers with fervour, and Ash chuckled. Nobunaga's scowl deepened.

"Now is not the time, Pinsir!" He called out. "This arrogant asshole needs to be taken down a peg, and you're going to be the one to do it!"

Pinsir, suddenly understanding the situation, reared his head and roared, a loud, grating noise that made Ash grimace, Larvesta titter in annoyance, and sent the Porygon-Z careening back slightly; the scientist on the other side of the field sent Pinsir an annoyed look, and started inspecting his fingernails for dirt, completely ignoring the other trainers. "Porygon, Psycho Cut. Psyshock version, of course."

Porygon-Z… made noise in agreement – it was a weird, mechanical beeping that Ash couldn't really make heads or tails of – and started charging power, releasing it in a thin, pale pink beam reminiscent of a scythe's blade in short order, set to slice Pinsir in two – or at least severely harm him, should he not do something about it.

"Pinsir, Protect!" Nobunaga snapped immediately, and a dome-like shield appeared around Pinsir, blocking the slash head on. "Now, Brick Break!" Pinsir roared again, shooting forwards as his shield dispersed with speed Ash hadn't expected to see; the scientist merely sniffed, however, and pushed his glasses a little farther up his nose.

"Porygon, float a little higher." And the Porygon-Z did, zooming up only a little before Pinsir was upon him; but that was all that was needed, because, with the added height, Pinsir was unable to get to him, and was left Brick Breaking thin air. "Lock-On, then Zap Cannon."

"Smack Down!" Just as Porygon-Z had locked in on Pinsir and was set to electrocute the Bug-type, Pinsir set his pincers into the ground, coming up with a massive boulder, ripped straight from the ground; and with a grin unseen by the humans and a snap of his pincers, the boulder was ripped to pieces. Chunks of rock of various sizes fell to the ground around him with a loud rumble, completely useless, as one single well-placed piece flew up into the air and smacked Porygon-Z in the face, sending the light-weight balloon crashing down to the ground, where it was forced to release its Zap Cannon into the ground to get rid of the now useless built-up electricity.

The scientist scowled and finally started paying attention to the battle, now that his Pokémon was pinned under a massive boulder that would undoubtedly knock it out within half a minute, if Pinsir didn't act up earlier. "Psychic on the boulder! Send it at the Pinsir! Then Tri-Attack, Fire!"

Nobunaga scowled as well, even as Pinsir broke the boulder into pieces with a Brick Break of his own volition; due to the Porygon line being made up out of pure data, they had the ability to change parts of their own make-up, to the point of changing types, and, indeed, directing moves to go just as they pleased where they would otherwise be utterly unpredictable. And if fire got to Pinsir, then he would have lost the battle, no contest. "Submission-Giga Impact! Then Thrash, when you have it in a hold!"

Pinsir roared in agreement and sprinted forwards, even as Ash' eyes widened at the ludicrously sacrificial combo; Giga Impact, if it hit, caused the user to become fatigued due to the sheer amount of power required, to the point where even simple attacks were difficult to perform, and Submission gave the opponent plenty of time to strike, even whilst being attacked, as such almost always grievously harming the user in the process. Thrash was basically the same thing, an all-out offensive without any thought left over for defence; however, if it worked, then Nobunaga would win the match immediately.

However, before Pinsir could even reach the recovering Porygon-Z, it was recalled by its trainer, who was scowling deeply. Pinsir was left standing confusedly where his target had been lying earlier, looking quite lost, and Ash and Nobunaga both blinked at the sudden, unexpected move. "Whilst I normally would not go as far as to accuse someone of cheating, especially in an unofficial match, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cross that line now, because what you just did was basically cheating, and even illegal in some places, such as Kalos and Hoenn."

The scientist sniffed, and pushed his glasses up his nose, stalking past Pinsir and his two human adversaries with a disdainful glance. "Such tactics are crude to the extreme, and I shall not deign your brutish selves with my presence for any longer. By cheating, you have forfeited the match, and so I come out of this conflict the winner – though I would have, either way, I simply have no wish to witness such a menace any longer than I have to. Have a… pleasant day, primates."

For a few moments after the scientist had left, the clearing was filled with silence, only broken by Pinsir's laborious breathing, the chirping of bird Pokémon from the surrounding forest, and the worried tittering of Larvesta, who, being only little more than two months old, didn't completely understand why everyone had fallen silent. Then, Ash finally asked what had been on his mind since the start of the match, because something didn't add up to him. "If Pinsir is that strong – if he's able to go toe to toe with such a strong Porygon-Z without much trouble – then why the hell did Larvesta win?"

Nobunaga sighed like he'd already known this was coming, and recalled Pinsir, clipping his Pokéball to his belt. "Pinsir is afraid of fire." He said shortly, turning back towards the path leading up to Mt. Moon, which he started trudging down, quickly followed by Ash, and by proxy Larvesta. "He was… severely harmed by it, several months before I got him. It's a phobia of his. That's why I made the decision to use such a self-sacrificial move combo."

"A forest fire?" Ash asked curiously, but Nobunaga shook his head.

"A Pokémon battle." Before Ash had the chance to ask further, Nobunaga quickly changed the subject, motioning on ahead to the mountain. "You're the one with the map – how much further is Mt. Moon's entrance?"

With a frown and a slight sigh and another line of possible information into his friend's past busted, Ash flipped open his Pokédex, checking the small map for their location. A small dot was moving along the road to Mt. Moon, and Ash frowned at its location, realising that they hadn't come nearly as close to Mt. Moon as he'd believed. "We're nearly halfway there." Ash answered, glancing up at the time, which was slowly ticking its way to 09:28 P.M.. "It's already nearly half past nine – but the sun doesn't even seem to be going down."

"It's summer." Nobunaga reminded Ash unnecessarily. "And we're way up in northern Kanto, much nearer to the equator than what you're undoubtedly used to from southern Kanto."

"True." Ash acknowledged, checking his Pokédex again. "We should probably go about setting up camp; if we sleep around ten o'clock, we should be up and about by seven tomorrow. We'll make it to Mt. Moon before dinner, then."

"Alright." Nobunaga nodded easily, motioning at the surrounding forest, where it would be less troublesome to camp than out in the middle of the road, where every single passing traveller would want to talk, if not battle. "Lead the way, Passepartout. Following your lead, we might still be home for Christmas."

Ash scowled, though it was more of a disguised smile than anything. "Sure, Fogg. As long as you don't fire me for making your shaving water two degrees too hot."

"I'll have you know that such a thing can make or break a man's look." Nobunaga declared sagely. "Why, if I were to get a penny for every time a shave with cold water has given me a bad look –"

"Then you'd be just as broke as you are now." Ash deadpanned, ducking under a tree. "Come on, Larvesta. Let's see if we can't find our lord and master a clearing."

Larvesta was just confused.

Oo0oO

"So this is basically Mt. Moon."

"It is."

Nobunaga gulped behind the hand that was scratching his neck nervously. "It's… dark."

Ash rolled his eyes, comfortably trudging down the wide tunnel, which had been dug by Pokémon millennia earlier and was even now still being explored by too-curious humans, holding his Larvesta-lit torch out in front of him so as to not trip over his own feet. "Honestly, I never thought that the one thing that the great Toian Samurai warlord was afraid of would be the dark. We only went down a single side-tunnel!" He said, exasperated. "Just because this isn't lit all over –"

"Yeah, but look at all those holes and crevices!" Nobunaga whimpered, motioning to the various side-tunnels that led off to the deeper parts of Mt. Moon in an intricate system of tunnels nobody had bothered to map out yet. "Who knows what could be hiding in there! A Rhyperior, out for blood! Maybe a Steelix, ready to gobble us up for an afternoon snack!"

"Nearly all Rock- and Ground-types eat minerals." Ash pointed out dully, moving around a particularly low-hanging stalactite. "And the most you'll find in these levels are weak Zubat and Geodude. I was planning to go down a level in search for a powerful Zubat, but with how you're acting now, I don't think that'll be possible."

"There's plenty scary things around here, I do not need the added scare of going down to more powerful Pokémon!" Nobunaga claimed, sounding quite shrill to Ash' ears. Larvesta tittered in annoyance, shooting Nobunaga a rather cute glare. "Or do I need to remind you that a single Geodude is more than enough to send us all running for cover, because nothing can harm it?"

"You do realise that a single Brick Break from Pinsir would send it flying, right?" Ash noted, but was ignored in favour of a small, undoubtedly newly hatched Zubat that zipped past them, which, of course, made Nobunaga jump and whimper.

"Oh no." He whimpered, clasping Pinsir's Pokéball tightly enough that Ash was halfway expecting it to shatter any second. "I don't think my little Oda heart can take much more of this…"

Ash sighed. "Look, we're not leaving this place for the main tunnels unless I find a significantly powerful Zubat. And because you're not letting us go down a level," Nobunaga's body shook at the mere thought, "we're going to have to spend days looking for one, unless we happen to luck out and find one before then."

"Why can't you just take one of the other Zubat?" Nobunaga almost whined, eyes darting around in paranoia. "There's plenty of them around here – entire colonies –"

"Because grabbing just any Zubat will force me to take a weak one, which I don't need, with the Cerulean Gym Battle coming up." Ash explained patiently, swinging his torch around to scare off a small colony of Zubat that had chosen to investigate the light. Nobunaga whimpered at the sight. "We're just going to be visiting a couple of colonies – the heads of the colonies will probably be powerful enough."

"But how do you know you've found a strong one? How do you know one of the other ones isn't really strong?"

"The larger a Zubat is, the closer they are to evolution." Ash sighed. "So I'm looking for a large Zubat. Obviously."

"These are all plenty large to me." Nobunaga muttered anxiously, stepping a little closer to Ash. "There! What about that one!"

Ash sighed and turned to look, only to find a positively tiny Zubat hanging from a stalactite a little ways above. "That one's days old." He said bluntly. "If he's ready to evolve, I'll eat my hat."

"Okay, there! What about that!" Nobunaga pointed at another small Zubat that was fluttering around, and Ash sighed.

"Look, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but your helping isn't really helping any."

Nobunaga, in the middle of pointing out a third small Zubat, sighed, and hung his head dejectedly. "Fine." He muttered, before jumping again at the noise of a Zubat that zipped past.

"I hate this place." He whimpered.

Oo0oO

"We've been in this place for three days, Ash!" Nobunaga sighed two uncomfortable… sessions of sleep later – in places where there wasn't any light or way of finding out which time of day it was, there wasn't really something like 'Day' or 'Night', because even the Pokédex' timer relied on GPS to keep track of time – and, though Nobunaga had stopped jumping at every shadow that moved, he'd resorted to complaining instead; not all that much of an improvement, if you asked Ash.

"I know we have." Ash nodded, calmly moving along the dark tunnel. They'd long since run out of wood to burn for light, and were instead relying on Larvesta to cast light every now and then with a small ember; exhausting, but it worked.

"Then why can't we just leave?" Nobunaga stressed, jumping in front of Ash. Naturally since neither of the two could see a thing and relied on sound to find each other's location, Ash didn't see him, and they bumped into each other, falling to the ground in a painful heap.

"Goddammit, Nobunaga!" Ash cursed, feeling ready to throw a punch at his friend. "Would you stop doing that?"

"If we can leave, then yeah!" Nobunaga retorted, jumping upright again. Ash followed soon after, and, with a burst of fire from Larvesta to find the right way, they trotted off again, further down the long and scary hallway. "I really don't see why some of those other Zubat weren't good enough for you. There were some pretty large ones back there, a colony or two ago –"

"Pretty large ones, but nothing special, which I need, if I'm going to defeat the Three Sisters with a single Pokémon." Ash frowned.

"Then just train it up a little!" Nobunaga begged, and though he couldn't see him, Ash felt the other boy had clasped his hands in front of him, and had nearly fallen to his knees. "Please! I want to get out of this damn cave! I'm slowly going crazy!"

Ash paused briefly, and Larvesta shot off an ember to make sure that Nobunaga wouldn't run into them. Then, he sighed, and hung his head in defeat. "Fine." He grumbled, moving on again. "The next colony we find, I'm catching a Zubat."

"Yes!" Nobunaga crowed in victory, and when Larvesta blew another ember, Ash saw that he'd fallen to his knees and was raising his hands skyward, like it was a godsend that Ash had finally complied. "Thank you, Arceus! Thank you, for this great blessing you've given me! This is the greatest day of my – ow!"

Ash rolled his eyes and stuck his hand back in his pocket from where he'd bonked Nobunaga on the head. "Stop being so melodramatic and come on. I want to go to Cerulean too, you know."

"Doesn't mean you have to be violent." Nobunaga grumbled, shuffling on after Ash while rubbing his painful head. "You could've been kind about it, but no – first you torture me with days of darkness, and then you start hitting me –"

"Watch out!" Ash suddenly shouted, pulling his friend down to evade the Pokémon that had suddenly shot through the darkness right where Nobunaga's head had been seconds earlier. Nobunaga cursed in reply as he felt the displacement of air ruffle his hair, and glanced up only to find a Zubat – a Zubat? – barrelling down at them from above, looking ready to tear out their eyes.

"What about this one?" Nobunaga screamed shrilly, ducking into a small alcove to evade another run. "I don't think – fucking hell! – it's all that weak, compared to – would you fuck off! – the others we've run across – dammit, you bloody bat! Attack Ash, would you?"

Ash was standing a little ways away, contemplating quietly while Larvesta kept the entire area bathed in light with a lit torch. "I think this is the one, Larvesta." He mumbled, grinning as the Zubat dove after Nobunaga again, nearly latching onto his head before he managed to dodge the claws. "Get its attention with a String Shot, or Ember, or something."

Larvesta didn't reply verbally; instead, she focused briefly before letting loose a big stream of embers at the Zubat, which had to swerve to avoid them. It looked around quickly for the source of the flames, only to find Larvesta sitting on Ash' hat, torch flaming brightly. Flying away from the cowering Nobunaga and closer to Ash and Larvesta, the Zubat called out in a clear challenge, and Ash grinned, glancing up at his Pokémon. "Ready, girl? Start with a String shot!"

With a silent nod, Larvesta jumped off of Ash and floated down to the ground, settling down comfortably only for a brief second before she fired off a long string, trying to wrap the Poison-type up for an easy win. Zubat didn't give up so easily, however; instead, it cut straight through the strings with glowing wings, and was straight on course for Larvesta until the Bug-type latched onto a wall with a String Shot and shot off, zooming straight past the surprised Zubat to land on the floor a little ways away, spitting Embers at the Zubat before Ash even got the chance to tell her to do so.

Zubat screeched in alarm and, unable to evade the stream completely, tried to cut through the fire with another Wing Attack, only to get severely burnt and lit on fire in the process. Naturally, it screamed.

The sound was not a nice one, and Ash immediately flinched, trying to cover his painful ears with his hands to block out the noise. It didn't work at all, and Ash grit his teeth as the grating, ear-bleeding screeches rattled his skull for what felt like an entire hour, until he was ready to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry.

Then, it was over, and Ash looked up from where he'd fallen to his knees without even realising it, to find the blackened form of Zubat lying a few feet away, still breathing comfortably, but clearly knocked out. Larvesta was still awake, but barely; the screeches had apparently hurt her much more than they had Ash, and it was all she could do to still keep a small flame going to ensure her trainer didn't squish her or Zubat on accident. With a slight, tired smile, Ash grabbed one of the empty Pokéballs attached to his belt and chucked it at the still form of Zubat, not having to look to hear the soft 'ding!' of a successful capture. Instead, he turned to Larvesta, who was looking up at Ash with one bleary eye, and Ash smiled proudly.

"You did great, Larvesta." He whispered, reaching over to stroke her fur. "Absolutely incredible. I couldn't have been more proud." Larvesta managed a soft, tired titter as reply, before she passed out, taking the light with her.

Just as Ash returned his first Pokémon, however, Nobunaga came crawling out from the alcove he'd been hiding under, the sounds of shuffling clothes being the only reason Ash even knew it was happening. They were both silent for a short moment, revelling in the sudden peace and quiet, before Nobunaga suddenly spoke up, sounding confused.

"Hey Ash, did you pick up Zubat's Pokéball?"

Ash blinked, taking in the fact that all possible sources of light were now gone, and there was one small ball to find, lying somewhere in the giant expanse of the tunnel without any clues as to its location.

"…Fuck."

Oo0oO

"We've arrived, Murkrow."

Murkrow cawed, hopping from one leg to another from his place atop the boat's bow, and his trainer smirked, reaching over with one pale hand to ruffle his head-feathers. "It is unfortunate, really – I had wanted your first time in Kanto to be on a vacation, not because of a crisis. But no matter. The League couldn't exactly force Caitlin out of bed to deal with the problem, could they?"

Rather affronted, Murkrow cawed again, because yes, that was, in fact, quite possible, but his trainer ignored him, instead staring back out to sea, and towards the approaching land. His lips quirked upwards into a slight smile, a fond one, which Murkrow had not seen upon his trainer in years, and he leaned forwards, bracing his hands against the railing as his long scarf flapped erratically behind him in the wind. "This brings back so many memories, Murkrow – memories like you wouldn't believe. I should tell you about them sometime – it'll be sure to bring us a good laugh, at least."

Suddenly, he shook himself, a single lock of hair falling over the bridge of his nose and past his eye, down to his cheekbone. He didn't pay it any mind. "It matters not. For right now, memories are the last thing we need, especially since we're going to be hunting down one of the most dangerous people Unova has produced over the last century."

Slowly, a nearly malicious smirk started to make its way across his face, and Murkrow blinked in surprise at the change.

"Run away, little scientist." He purred, smirk growing. "Run away, but don't be surprised when we're there when you finally take a rest. You can't get away from the dark, especially if you're its prey, and you, Colress, are my prey. So run, but beware, for behind every corner, in every shadow, every time you turn your back – I'll be watching."

Murkrow sweatdropped.

Chapter notes:

I tried to write Ash' capture and the subsequent raid out in full, but it pretty much bummed out, resulting in a writer's block lasting three weeks. In the end, I just decided to delete it all, and do it like I did. It resulted in a slightly shorter chapter, but also in a side-plot that I previously hadn't yet planned, so I'm not that mad.

In case anyone was wondering, falling asleep gives you something called REM (or Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which is what gives you rest. Getting clubbed/screeched/whatever-ed to unconsciousness, as far as I know, doesn't give you this, thus not allowing you to get a good rest. Same with drinking yourself unconscious, actually.

The To continent is basically the continent where Kanto and Johto are located. As far as I know – and this is from using a very, very vague online Japanese dictionary – To is also the name for a promoted pawn in chess, which kinda fits with the 'Kanto is important' theme. The south-eastern side of Sinnoh connects with this, and Sinnoh itself is part of another (currently unnamed) continent that has Unova and Kalos, as well. Hoenn just drifts around somewhere, I suppose.

Unlike with Colress, I'm not going to outright state who that was, just now, but I've dropped some pretty massive hints, and you should be able to glean who it is from that. And if you think you've figured it out, don't leave it in a review, please. Don't spoil it for the people that haven't figured it out. PM me if you NEED to have confirmation, but don't spoil it for the rest.

On the Chapter's Title; 'De la terre à la lune' was a novel by Jules Verne, which, when translated, reads 'From the earth to the moon'. Considering mines, Pewter City, and Mt. Moon, I thought it was rather appropriate – the references to Around the world in Eighty Days played a part, too.

And that's it for this time, I suppose. So I'll see you all next month. Hopefully. If nothing horrible happens to me in the meantime.

-The Baron