Mt. Moon

Ash, Brock and Misty were traveling towards Route 3, which was just outside Pewter City. He was currently looking at the Boulder Badge with Charmander and Pikachu walking alongside him.

After putting the badge away in his badge case, Ash unfolded a map.

"Based off this map, we have to pass through Mt. Moon to get to Cerulean City." He said.

"Mt. Moon?" Misty asked. "That name sounds really romantic."

"I've heard stories about this place." Brock said. "A very long time ago, a meteor crashed into the mountain."

"Is that true?" Misty asked.

"I honestly don't know." Brock answered. "But the meteor is called the Moon Stone."

"I've heard about it." Ash added. "It's said to allow Pokemon to evolve. An example would be Nidorino."

"So, you're telling me it's a evolutionary stone?" Misty asked.

"If it helps Pokemon evolve, then yes." Ash answered.

Just then, the three head screaming in the distance.

"What's going on?" Ash asked.

"Someone's in trouble." Brock said. "Let's find out what's going on."

They ran to the source of the screaming and saw a man being attacked by a horde of bat-like Pokemon.

Ash scanned them with the Pokedex.

"Zubat, the Bat Pokemon. Forms colonies in perpetually dark places. Uses ultrasonic waves to identify and approach targets."

"He's in trouble." Ash said. "Pikachu, scare them away with Thunderbolt!" This immediately caused the Zubat to fly away.

"Thanks for that, allow me to introduce myself." The man said. "I'm Seymour, the scientist."

"I'm Ash." He said.

"My name's Brock." Brock introduced himself.

"And I'm Misty." Misty also introduced herself.

"Would you know what caused those Zubat to attack you?" Ash asked.

"I'll show you why." Seymour said as he led the gang into the cave. "These lights are the reason."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Brock said. "Zubat aren't very fond of light."

"The Zubat aren't the only ones affected. The Paras are planting their mushrooms all over the place and causing the Sandshrew to be dehydrated." Seymour explained.

Ash inspected the Sandshrew. It was panting really hard due to thirst. He felt sorry for it and pulled out his canteen.

"Here you go, Sandshrew. Quench your thirst." He said, holding the canteen in front of Sandshrew. Sandshrew looked at Ash for a few moments, and then accepted the water. Misty and Brock smiled at his kindness.

"You're a nice young boy." Seymour said, smiling. "I came here to keep Mt. Moon safe from any troublemakers."

"What would bring troublemakers here?" Misty asked.

"The Moon Stone." Seymour explained. "The troublemakers want to take it for themselves, because it's a million years old and it possesses unique powers."

"That's awful." Misty said.

Brock then spotted a pink Pokemon hopping around.

"That's a Clefairy." Brock said.

"Ah, so cute." Misty squealed.

Ash then noticed it was holding something.

"Hey, that's a Moon Stone." He said.

"You're right." Seymour nodded. "Here's a thought, if we follow Clefairy it will lead us to the meteorite." Ash, Misty and Brock thought it was a great idea and all four followed the Clefairy. The Sandshrew went after them, as it didn't want Ash to leave.

As the four followed Clefairy; they saw more and more lights.

"They must have been placed all over the mountain." Ash said.

"Whoever is doing this is causing a lot of trouble." Misty said.

"Did we hear the word trouble?" A female voice asked.

"If you want trouble we'll give you some." A male voice said.

"Prepare for trouble."

"Make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now and prepare to fight."

"Meowth that's right."

Clefairy hid behind Ash, scared.

"I remember you three." Ash said. "We had a run in back at the Viridian City Pokemon Center."

"We haven't forgotten about you twerp." Jessie said. "But we don't time to deal with you."

"That's right." Meowth nodded. "We came here for the Moon Stone."

"So you three are responsible for setting up these lights?" Brock asked.

"Of course." James said. "They're aiding us in the search for the Moon Stone."

"You crooks!" Seymour shouted. "The lights are causing the Pokemon to become confused."

"What a shame." Jessie said, smirking. "That's too bad."

"You guys won't get away with this!" Brock shouted. "If all you want is a rock, take it and get lost!"

"Get lost, how rude!" Jessie shouted. "It seems you need to learn some manners."

She and James released Ekans and Koffing from their Poke Balls.

Since Ash was unable to scan them back in the Viridian City Pokemon Center, he decided now was a good opportunity to do so.

"Ekans, the Snake Pokemon. Moves silently and stealthily. Eats the eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow whole."

"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokemon. Because it stores several kinds of toxic gases in its body, it is prone to exploding without warning."

"Very well then." Ash said. "Butterfree, I choose you."

"Go Zubat!" Brock shouted. Ash was surprised as he had no idea Brock caught a Zubat.

"I caught Zubat before we entered the mountain." He explained.

"Get out of here." Ash ordered Seymour and Misty to leave and keep Clefairy safe.

"Go with them." He instructed Sandshrew to do the same. Misty and Seymour nodded, then ran off with Clefairy and Sandshrew.

"Koffing, Smog!" James shouted. A thick dark green fog pours out of the holes covering Koffing's body.

"Zubat, use a Double Team/Wing Attack combination to blow the smog away." Brock ordered. The combined attack worked and the gas floated back to Team Rocket.

"Ekans, use Bite on those Pokemon." Jessie said.

"Butterfree, Psybeam!" Ash said. Since psychic type moves are super-effective against poison type Pokemon, Ekans was in a lot of pain.

"Zubat, Supersonic!" Brock said. Ekans and Koffing became confused by Zubat's attack and started attacking each other. This angered Team Rocket.

"Now Butterfree, blow them away with Gust." Ash said.

"Zubat, Whirlwind." The gust and whirlwind sent them flying along with their Pokemon.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Jessie and James shouted. Brock and Ash were just about to celebrate when they noticed something odd.

"Wait, I didn't see Meowth fly off with them." Ash said.

"Neither did I." Brock added. "We need to find Misty and Seymour immediately."

Meanwhile Misty and Seymour were still pursuing Clefairy who was jumping around like it was crazy.

"Please slow down." Misty begged. "We can't keep up with you."

Just then Meowth popped out in front of Clefairy.

"There you are." He said. "Now, be a nice Clefairy and give me the Moon Stone." Clefairy quivered in fear.

"Hey, leave that Clefairy alone!" Seymour demanded.

"Not gonna happen." Meowth said. He extended his claws.

"Taste my Scratch attack."

"Hold it right there, Meowth!" Misty shouted.

Sandshrew fired multiple white stars at Meowth, who yelped in pain.

"Go, Staryu." Misty released her Staryu.

"Follow it up with Water Gun." Staryu releases a spiral of water from the tip of its top-most limb at Meowth, which sent him blasting off.

"You guys okay?" Ash asked as he and Brock arrived on the scene.

"Yeah, everything's alright." Misty answered. Sandshrew was overjoyed to see Ash and ran up to him.

"Thanks for looking after them, Sandshrew." Ash said as he petted Sandshrew's head. Clefairy watched Sandshrew bond with Ash out of interest.

Sunset came and everyone was sitting by a campfire having something to eat. Ash saw Brock feed something to Zubat.

"Hey Brock, what did you just give to Zubat?" Ash asked.

"This is Pokemon food I made from my own recipe." Brock explained.

"Would you be willing to teach me how to make some?" Ash asked Brock.

"Of course." Brock answered. "I'll start doing so when we get to the next city."

Sandshrew and Clefairy were having a conversation in pokelanguage. Sandshrew told Clefairy that it decided to go with Ash. Clefairy stared at Ash and decided it wanted to go with him as well. Ash, who was watching Sandshrew and Clefairy looked it up on the Pokedex.

"Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokemon. Burrows deep underground in arid locations far from water. It only emerges to hunt for food."

He then scanned Clefairy.

"Clefairy, the Fairy Pokemon. It's magical and cute appeal has many admirers. It is rare and found only in certain areas." Just then Clefairy got up, called out to everyone and began hopping into the cave.

"It seems Clefairy wants us to follow it." Seymour said. And so, that's what the four did.

Clefairy led them to a crater inside the cave. Sunset had become nighttime and a full moon was out.

In the middle of the crater was a giant rock surrounded by Clefairy.

"That's the Moon Stone." Seymour said. "And all the Clefairy have gathered around it."

Just then the Clefairy placed it's Moon Stone with the other smaller Moon Stones. Once that piece was with the others, the big and small Moon Stones began to glow.

"Wow, what a sight." Misty said. "I wonder what they're doing?"

Sandshrew let Ash know what Clefairy told him.

"I see." Ash said. "Sandshrew just informed me that Clefairy pray to the Moon Stone so some of them are able to evolve into Clefable."

"So, the Moon Stone is a giant evolutionary stone." Seymour said. "What a wonderful sight. I've always wanted to see this."

Just then an explosion erupted from under the ground.

"What just happened?!" Seymour shouted. Laughter was then heard.

"Not again." Ash sighed, exasperated.

"Thanks for helping us find the Moon Stone." Jessie chuckled. "Now we'll take it for ourselves."

"You can't do that!" Seymour shouted.

"We can and will." James smirked.

More explosions went off and when the smoke faded, the Moon Stone was gone.

"Oh no." Seymour said. "We have to reclaim the Moon Stone at all cost."

"Maybe that big hole will lead us to them." Brock said. "Let's go Onix."

Brock told Onix to lead them through the tunnel Team Rocket left behind and the group followed Onix, along with Sandshrew and Clefairy.

Team Rocket was sliding down the mountain on a sled with the Moon Stone in their possession. They believed they had succeeded, when suddenly Onix emerged from the ground and stopped them.

"I don't think so!" Ash shouted. "You're not going anywhere with the Moon Stone!"

This angered Team Rocket and they were about to call out their Pokemon when Clefairy showed up. Clefairy wasn't happy with Team Rocket and began waving it's arms around.

"That's Metronome." Seymour said. "It allows the Pokemon to randomly select an attack, but you can never tell which one it will use." The Metronome turned into Explosion and sent them blasting off again.

Everyone was happy that the Moon Stone was finally safe. Just then chips from the giant Moon Stone came falling out of the sky and landed on some of the Clefairy. The Clefairy, that the Moon Stone touched, began glowing and turned into Clefable.

"Well." Ash said. "It's apparent the Moon Stone allows Pokemon to evolve." Misty, Brock and Seymour agreed.

Ash then scanned Clefable.

"Clefable, the Fairy Pokemon and the evolved form of Clefairy. A timid fairy Pokémon that is rarely seen. It will run and hide the moment it senses people."

When morning came Ash, Brock and Misty decided it was time to go. Seymour decided to remain at Mt. Moon and study the Moon Stone some more.

"After last night." He said. "There's more I need to learn." Ash, Brock and Misty understood that and said farewell to him as well as the Clefairy and Clefable. Just as the three were about to leave Sandshrew and a Clefair walked up to Ash.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Sandshrew shrew." Sandshrew said.

"Fairy Fairy." Clefairy said.

"You two want to come with me?" He asked. They both nodded.

Ash held out two Poke Balls and tapped them on Sandshrew and Clefairy. Three seconds later they were caught.

"Welcome to the team." Ash said, with a smile.

"Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokemon. Burrows deep underground in arid locations far from water. It only emerges to hunt for food.

Type: Ground

Gender: Male

Ability: Sand Veil

Current moves: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack, Poison Sting, Rollout, Rapid Spin, Fury Cutter, Magnitude, Swift and Night Slash."

"Clefairy, the Fairy Pokemon. It's magical and cute appeal has many admirers. It is rare and found only in certain areas.

Type: Fairy

Gender: Female

Ability: Cute Charm

Current moves: Disarming Voice, Encore, Growl, Pound, Sing, Double Slap, Defense Curl, Metronome and Tickle."

He, Brock and Misty were now walking along a path, when they saw a sign. It read: Cerulean City.

"Here's where I obtain my second badge." Ash said. Then he noticed something else on the sign: Gary was here, Ash is a loser.

"We'll find out who the real loser is after our battle at the Indigo League." He continued walking, with Misty and Brock beside him.