Day 41 of the journey to Kanto. Light rain.
When Reiji woke up that morning, a fine drizzle was falling outside. Through the window, he saw Mt. Moon rising through rolling mist, its peak disappearing into the clouds.
The mountain stood almost straight up, like a triangle planted on its base. With slopes around seventy or eighty degrees, climbing it from the outside would be miserable.
The tunnels inside Mt. Moon were another matter. They spread through the mountain in every direction, and some of them should lead toward the summit. Reiji could take the tunnels up, search for high-potential Diglett along the way, and maybe catch one or two if he got lucky.
Diglett were only part of the plan. The altar at the summit, where the Clefairy worshiped the moon, was supposed to be piled with Moon Stones. He definitely wanted to see that.
If Mt. Moon had Moon Stones, it might also have other Evolution stones and fossils. Digging his way up could add a little more weight to his wallet.
After breakfast at the Pokémon Center, Reiji put on his raincoat and got ready to leave. Since it was drizzling, he kept Eevee in her Poké Ball. Poliwhirl walked beside him, while Darkrai and Gengar stayed in his shadow.
He left the Pokémon Center and walked toward Mt. Moon. Once he reached the outskirts of the city, he sent out Pelipper, recalled Poliwhirl, and flew the rest of the way.
Walking there would have been a trap. The mountain looked close, but if he went on foot, he might still be walking after dark.
By air, the trip took a little over an hour. Pelipper brought him to the foot of Mt. Moon, the last mountain between him and Pewter City. The Gym could wait. First, he wanted to see whether he could find any exceptional-grade Moon Stones.
He found a fairly wide cave entrance, had Pelipper land, and ducked inside to get out of the rain. Once under cover, he released Poliwhirl again and took off his raincoat.
The cave was dark and damp, but at least rain wasn't leaking through the ceiling. Reiji switched on his flashlight and led Poliwhirl deeper inside.
Wind howled through the tunnel.
If Reiji hadn't known it was just air rushing through the cave system, he might have thought something was lurking in the dark.
Darkrai gave no warning, so Reiji didn't worry. Instead, he released Golbat.
This kind of narrow cave was Golbat's territory. With echolocation, it could scout the tunnels far better than Reiji's flashlight.
Darkrai would sense any Evolution stones nearby and point them out, while Gengar handled the digging.
Their luck started off well enough. Soon after entering the cave, they found a low-grade Leaf Stone. It wasn't a Moon Stone, but it was still a decent sign.
After Gengar dug out the Evolution stone, Golbat found a group of Diglett living in the cave. Reiji had Darkrai put them to sleep, then checked them one by one.
While searching for Diglett, he also ran into Sandshrew, Sandslash, Geodude, Graveler, Dugtrio, and several other wild Ground-type Pokémon.
He ignored everything except the Diglett. Diglett could combine-evolve, which gave him a fast way to raise potential. The others would need slow, long-term training, and he already had Hanhan for the Ground- and Rock-type role. Catching more Pokémon with overlapping types wouldn't help him much.
Reiji kept moving upward while catching Diglett and digging out stones. So far, he hadn't run into anyone else.
Mt. Moon was huge, and the tunnels twisted through it like Onix had been drilling here for years. Running into another person in this maze would have been stranger than not running into one.
Whenever the climb tired him out, he stopped to rest. At noon, he found a large hollow, released his Pokémon, and ate lunch with them. After that, he continued toward the summit.
He still hadn't seen a single Clefairy. No idea where those pink Pokémon were hiding.
If Clefairy were really that hard to find, any one of them would do for Amber. It would only be a companion for her to play with anyway. With Blaine teaching her, she wouldn't lack proper main battlers.
Tap, tap, tap.
Just as Reiji was thinking he hadn't met anyone, footsteps echoed from one of the six tunnels ahead.
Those were human footsteps. In a sealed, echoing cave like this, he wouldn't mistake that sound.
Golbat checked the tunnels and reported footsteps in two directions. One set was moving away, while the other was closing in. Two groups, one chasing the other.
Reiji slipped into a tunnel with no footsteps, turned off his flashlight, and hid in the shadows. Soon, light flashed across the junction.
The first to run past was a large black hound—Houndoom.
Houndoom stopped at the junction and sniffed the air. Then it turned toward the tunnel where Reiji was hiding. It had caught the scent of a stranger.
"Which way, Houndoom?"
The pursuers sounded impatient. They urged Houndoom to keep going. If their target got away, they would lose whatever they were after.
"Hound! Hound!" Houndoom wanted to warn its Trainer that someone else was nearby, but its Trainer couldn't understand its cries. In the end, it followed the original scent and charged down the tunnel the fugitive had taken.
Once Houndoom and the two people behind it were gone, Reiji stepped out of the shadows and continued upward.
Whatever they were chasing, and whatever they wanted, had nothing to do with him.
His goal was the Moon Stones at the summit. Once he got what he wanted, he would leave. He had no interest in someone else's fight unless they dragged him into it.
Reiji put the encounter out of his mind and went back to exploring. The moment he turned, a pink shape bounced away at the edge of his light.
"Clefairy. After it!"
The pink figure vanished into the darkness. Reiji immediately took Golbat and Poliwhirl after it.
Golbat flew off his shoulder and locked onto the target with echolocation. They chased it through several tunnels before finally catching up, by which point Reiji was panting hard.
Running uphill inside a mountain was no joke. The fact that he had kept up this long already proved his morning training had paid off.
"Golbat, Hypnosis."
Reiji's flashlight landed on Clefairy. Its black bead-like eyes froze for a heartbeat, and he sent Golbat in before it could react.
"Clef? Clef?" Clefairy saw Golbat flying toward it and didn't fight back. It sat down, held both little hands over its head, and let Reiji catch it with a Poké Ball.
"Finally caught a Clefairy."
Reiji picked up the Poké Ball and checked Clefairy's proficiency panel. Its potential was only in the thirties. Too low.
He would keep it for now. If he found a better Clefairy later, he could release this one.
Reiji continued toward the summit. The higher he climbed, the more often Clefairy appeared.
He still didn't find a high-potential Clefairy right away, but he did catch a decent Diglett with 51 potential. Barely acceptable. He put the Poké Ball into his bag and planned to transfer it later with the others.
Around six or seven in the evening, he stopped for dinner and finally found a Clefairy worth keeping. Its potential was 49. Not great, but good enough.
With evolution and a Moon Stone, Elite Four tier was still possible. The rest would depend on how many resources Amber was willing to put into it.
As he ate, Reiji looked around at the damp cave walls. By now, he had lost track of where he was. He had only been following the tunnels upward, with no idea how far he still had to go.
Every so often, tremors passed through the stone. Someone was battling inside the mountain, most likely the two groups from earlier.
After dinner, Reiji stopped worrying about them. The tremors were coming from below, which meant the fight was still in the lower tunnels. As long as they stayed down there, they wouldn't interfere with him.
He kept climbing.
Before long, he began seeing Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂.
That meant Nidoqueen and Nidoking were almost certainly nearby. The Nido family was famous for protecting its young, and if those boss Pokémon found out someone had taken their offspring, they might tear Mt. Moon apart looking for the thief.
Reiji left the Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ alone. He either went around them or drove them away.
The closer he got to the summit, the more Clefairy, Clefable, Nidoran♀, and Nidoran♂ he saw.
Soon, hostile Nidorino and Nidorina began blocking the way. They attacked whenever Reiji tried to go higher, forcing him to avoid them instead of fighting through.
At another junction, Darkrai's warning sounded in his mind.
"Stop. There are two strong presences above, staying near a large pile of Evolution stones."
"Elite Four tier? Probably the guardians. Nidoqueen and Nidoking, then." Reiji made the guess quickly. Both the Nido line and Clefairy needed Moon Stones to evolve. If anything guarded the summit and kept Trainers away, it would be them.
Did he really have to stop here?
He didn't want to.
This was the closest he had ever been to an exceptional-grade Evolution stone. It wasn't a Water Stone, but an exceptional-grade Moon Stone was even more valuable. He could trade it for an exceptional-grade Water Stone and finally let Poliwhirl complete its evolution instead of staying stuck at level 50.
Reiji sat down with a sigh. He knew he was being greedy. The Elite Four-tier Hard Stone he already had should be enough to trade for an exceptional-grade Water Stone, yet he still wanted a Moon Stone too.
But after coming this far, leaving empty-handed just felt wrong.
"There are many Evolution stones above, near those two presences. If you want some, I can bring a few back."
"You won't get caught, right?" Reiji had thought about letting Darkrai steal a few stones. Darkrai was fine. Gengar was not.
If Gengar went up there, that prankster might cause trouble just for fun.
"Easy." Darkrai slipped silently out of his shadow.
"Gen, gen." Gengar poked its head out and watched Darkrai leave. It usually worked together with Darkrai, so being left behind clearly made it restless.
"Gengar, remember the underground black market in Gringey City? You got spotted." Reiji smiled and rubbed Gengar's round head. Gengar wasn't as good at hiding as Darkrai, and its little habits made it unreliable for this job.
If Gengar swallowed every Moon Stone in one bite, Reiji would be happy for about three seconds. Then the Nido family would chase him through the mountain. He only wanted a few stones, not the entire altar.
Gengar going up there would be a good intention waiting to become a disaster. After all their time together, Reiji knew its personality too well.
"Gen, gen." Gengar stuck out its tongue awkwardly. It still remembered the time it got too greedy and nearly got forced out by Alakazam.
Since Reiji wasn't letting it go, Gengar gave up and sank back into the shadow.
Darkrai returned before long. Four Evolution stones rose out of the shadow, along with Darkrai's voice in Reiji's mind.
"I picked them up at random."
"Thanks." Reiji picked up the stones and checked them: one exceptional-grade Moon Stone, one high-grade Moon Stone, and two mid-grade Moon Stones.
Random, sure.
Darkrai could sense the energy in Evolution stones. If it had truly gone for the best ones, it could probably have brought back four exceptional-grade Moon Stones. Still, one exceptional-grade Moon Stone was enough. Reiji put all four away, satisfied.
Next, he had Golbat follow the airflow and search for an exit.
The Moon Stones weren't going anywhere. If he needed money later, he could come back and take another small haul. Including the low-grade Evolution stones he had dug up on the way, tonight's gains were already worth the trip.
Going up had been difficult. Going down was easier.
Golbat soon found an exit by following the airflow, but night had already fallen, and light rain was still coming down outside.
Reiji decided not to leave the cave yet. He laid out a moisture-proof mat and a sleeping bag inside, crawled in, and planned to wait until morning before leaving Mt. Moon.
It was just past one in the morning. He could still get some sleep, so he held Eevee and closed his eyes.
Boom, boom, boom!
Explosions echoed from halfway down the mountain. The two groups from earlier were still fighting. Judging by the force of the impacts, Advanced-tier Trainers were involved at minimum.
Worse, the battle was spreading upward.
If the person being chased couldn't win, they might try to lure the guardians down and use them against their pursuers.
That still had nothing to do with Reiji, as long as the fight didn't reach his cave. Mt. Moon's summit was huge. Surely it wouldn't spread all the way here.
"Nido! Nidooo!"
A roar tore through the cave and froze him in place.
Nidoking had been angered.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The ground shook beneath him. Nidoking had gone down. That still left an Elite Four-tier Nidoqueen at the summit, though Reiji didn't know which one had stayed behind and which one had moved out.
As long as it didn't come out through his side, he was fine. A Ground-type heading downhill would probably use Dig, which explained the shaking.
Those people had angered the Nido family. Now they could enjoy the consequences.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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