Mt. Moon

(Mt. Moon.)

Noah had come out of the Pokémon Centre stationed next to the mountain entrance and had to admit, Mt. Moon was an imposing sight. The massive mountain towered above him, dwarfing even the tallest of trees a hundred times over. Fortunately for him, he didn't need to go over the mountain but instead, take the path underneath it.

Noah smiled wryly at the thought of being underneath the million tons of stone and dirt. He would have preferred an alternative way to get to Cerulean City, but Mt. Moon was the only available way for him.

Noah looked down at his curious Bagon. "Well then buddy, let's go. It shouldn't take us more than half-a-day to get through this mountain."

"Baee." Bagon nodded and entered the dark tunnel.

Noah soon followed behind, he noticed the small streaks of light shine down from the roof that stopped the cave from being pitch-black. Noah took out a Pokeball, a beam of red light flashed from the ball and Scyther appeared next to him.

"I want you to go on ahead and make sure there aren't any other Pokémon around," Noah said as he patted Scyther's head. He wasn't in the mood to have a battle in a place like this, it was frankly dangerous and Scyther's ninja-like abilities were the perfect solution to this problem.

"Scy!!" Scyther cried out in acknowledgement as he took to the air and disappeared into the darkness.

…

(A While Later.)

Noah and Bagon had walked for several hours now. Scyther seemed to have taken care of any Zubat's that might have had an interest in him, so he wasn't attacked by the dangerous hordes of bat Pokémon that many trainers have told horror stories about.

However, something didn't feel right about the tunnel. Noah hadn't encountered a single trainer since entering, despite the fact that this was the most commonly used route for new trainers going to Cerulean City and this put him on edge.

Despite his uneasiness, Noah continued to walk along the tunnels and after a few minutes, he heard something. His footsteps came to a halt, Bagon seemed to have also heard it as he too stopped walking.

"Baee!" Bagon growled at whatever awaited them at the end of the tunnel.

"I agree, there's something suspicious happening down there," Noah replied as he got the gist of what Bagon had wanted to convey to him. "Let's wait for Scyther to come back, it's not safe to rush into an unknown situation."

"Aeegon." Bagon nodded as he kept his alertness up.

Several minutes later, a shadow silently dropped next to Noah and made its presence known. Normally, this would've frightened him but given the fact that Bagon didn't warn him, he speculated that it was Scyther.

"Can you tell me what's happening down there?" Noah turned to his side and was surprised to see an expression of displeasure on his Pokémon's face, he had never seen such an expression on him before.

"Scy, scy.!!" Scyther cried out in anger as he pointed further down the tunnel.

"I see, there's something or someone there that's responsible for all the noise we're hearing?" Noah asked in affirmation.

"Scy." Scyther nodded.

Noah's eyebrows furrowed in thought for a moment before he gave his orders. "Bagon, stay beside me and keep quiet, do not make noise regardless of what we see. Scyther, I want you to stay hidden, but make sure you're within hearing distance."

After seeing his Pokémon accept his commands, Noah spoke. "Alright then, let's go check it out."

…

(Ten Minutes Later.)

Noah heard loud cries and hisses as he walked further down the tunnel. He didn't want to know what had managed to cause so many Pokémon – especially the tough wild ones that had survived in the depths of Mt. Moon – such pain or distress.

Unfortunately, his question was soon answered as he noticed the tunnel brightening. Taking a moment to make sure he and his Pokémon were well hidden, Noah took a peek at the brightly lit area and saw two adult men in black uniforms with a crimson 'R' on the front sitting in front of a large cage.

He had immediately recognized the uniform, they belonged to the notorious criminal organization – Team Rocket. Noah then looked at the cage and saw a large amount of Zubat's being clustered together around what seemed to be a Golbat.

Noah retracted his head and took a breath to calm himself. The situation wasn't as bad as he had expected, there were no trainers present among the swarm of Pokémon in the cage and the two Rocket grunts seemed to be too occupied with each other to take notice of his arrival.

Noah thought of what to do before his eyes narrowed in decisiveness, he looked up to the shadow of his Scyther and ordered. "Scyther, I want you to get behind those two grunts and knock them out. I want to save those Pokémon but we can't risk a battle in such a tight space, so I'll have to depend on you to do this for me."

Scyther looked deeply into his trainers' eyes before nodding and taking off to complete his task. Noah took this time to send an S.O.S message to the nearby authorities with his PokeNav. He made sure to include a detailed message of the situation along with his exact location.

A moment later, Noah heard something hit the ground as the noise from the Pokémon began to quieten down. He peeked out once again and saw two unconscious bodies down on the ground.

After determining that it was safe, Noah made his presence known to the caged Pokémon and walked towards them.

Zubat's had very poor eyesight in general so they didn't know what was happening, but the Golbat stared at Noah with wariness in its eyes.

Once Noah had reached the cage, the Zubat's kicked up a fuss again and the sound they produced caused him to grunt in pain.

"Baeee!!/Scyy!!"

Both Bagon and Scyther bellowed at the trapped Pokémon after seeing their trainer in pain. The joint bellow of his Pokémon silenced the Zubat's down and Noah took this opportunity to speak to them.

"It's okay, we're here to rescue you from this cage," Noah spoke soothingly despite the constant ringing in his ears. "Scyther here informed me of your situation and I came to investigate. However, before I release you, I want you to promise not to attack me."

The Zubat's chirped in happiness and nodded eagerly, but Noah kept his line of sight on the Golbat. The Golbat closed its eyes for a moment before opening them once again and nodded at him.

"Scyther, slice these locks off for me," Noah ordered the moment he gained Golbat's approval.

"Scyy!!" Scyther brought down one of his scythes and effortlessly sliced through the lock.

Noah opened the cage and watched in amazement as tens of Zubat's flew to the roof of the tunnel. When the Golbat had made its way out of the cage and into the light, Noah was stunned still.

The Golbat was tall, it almost matched his own height but that wasn't the cause of his shock. What shocked him about the Golbat in front of him was that it was colored green instead of its usual dark-blue – this was a shiny Golbat.

The Golbat observed him deeply for several moments before turning its body to the unconscious Team Rocket members and hissed in fury. When Noah heard this, he immediately intervened and tried to reason with it.

"Don't worry about them, I've already contacted the nearest authorities and told them about the situation. You may not know but these two are part of a criminal organization and the Pokémon League has been interrogating its members to find out the locations of their hideouts. So, I urge you to leave it in their hands. The two will be tried and sentenced for their crimes."

Golbat looked at him again and nodded slowly. It looked at its fellow Zubat's but instead of flying off to them, it changed its line of sight to his two Pokémon in what seemed to be contemplation. It then looked directly into Noah's eyes and pointed one of its wings at his Pokeballs.

"Gool!" It hissed as it kept nudging his Pokeballs.

"You want me to catch you?" Noah asked incredulously, with wide eyes. Sure, he had thoughts of capturing it but the repercussions of a strong, unwilling Pokémon being captured against its will would have been dreadful. However, if it was willing to join him on his own, that would be a different story.

"Golll." Golbat nodded as though it read his thoughts.

"Then I won't refuse. Welcome to the team, Golbat." Noah said with a wide smile as he took out an empty Pokeball and gently tapped it against the Golbat. The Pokeball dinged the instant Golbat disappeared into it. Noah released his new teammate along with Horsea so they could get to know one another.

Golbat and Horsea appeared out of the red beam. The two looked at each other with a questioning look before Noah's two other Pokémon took it upon themselves to do the introductions.

While they introduced one another, Noah took this moment to scan his newly caught Pokémon.

[Golbat, the Bat Pokémon. Golbat loves to drink the blood of living things. It is particularly active in the pitch-black night. This Pokémon flies around in the night skies, seeking fresh blood.

This Golbat is female and it knows the moves: Bite, Screech, Confuse Ray, Curse, Wing Attack, Poison Fang, Mean Look, Leech Life and Brave Bird. Its ability is Infiltrator, which allows her to pass through opposing Pokémon's barrier, substitute, and the like and strike.]

"She really is a strong Pokémon…" Noah muttered under his breath. He then turned towards the two unconscious grunts with a grin so wide, that it scrunched up the corners of his eyes. "Now, let's see what our two guests have brought for us today. I mean, hard work should be rewarded right?"

As Noah began to search through the grunts' belongings, his Pokémon turned to him and gave him a dry look before they continued on with their conversation.