Ch 11. Mt. Moon

Waking up as soon as dawn arrived, Ares left the pokemon center early as he made his way towards Cerulean City. Looking at the map, Ares saw he had to move through Mt. moon to reach Cerulean city. It would be a good place to train his pokemon and maybe catch a new pokemon as well. His team, which had become a family to him, was already filling out nicely, but a new addition was always welcome. There was no shortage of pokemon to catch.

In no time Ares arrived in front of the mountain. The entrance was seen from a mile away, as were the signs showing which way to go. The entrance they needed to take was however closed down, a sign with [Closed. Dangerous pokemon rampage.] stuck to it.

Seeing no other option, Ares looked around and found another entrance, one that wasn't blocked by anything. It seems this was the alternate entrance into Mt. Moon. Ares released his pokemon and let them walk with him as they entered Mt. Moon. Taking out his flash light, Ares walked further in, Lucario in front and Eevee behind him.

Mew was, well, Mew was Mew and was just taking a nap in his bag and enjoying some snacks. He could hear her crunch down on some cookies, no doubt filling his bag with crumbs he would need to clean out later. Pidgey remained in his pokeball, as caves weren't a good place to train, while Pichu was sitting on his shoulder, looking nervously around her. This was the first time she hd entered a cave, making her tense up and look around nervously. She wasn't liking the darkness, assuming an aggressive pokemon would pop out any moment now.

It was relatively calm, as they didn't see any pokemon thus far. While walking deeper into Mt. Moon, they finally came across some pokemon, three flocks of Zubat that were disturbed by the flashlight. They attacked Ares and his pokemon using screech. They quickly covered their ears from the eardrum piercing noise, which felt as if they were about to burst any second now.

"Eevee, Swift!"

Ares yelled over the loud Screech.

Eevee was irritated by the Zubat as well, sending multiple fast moving stars towards the Zubat, driving them back into the cave to flee from the Swift attack. That should drive the Zubat off long enough to let them move away from there.

Ares quickly put out the flashlight, now knowing it would be better to not use it. Otherwise he would keep being attacked by the pokemon that lived inside. It would quickly tire them out, so it would be best to rely on his pokemon in this case.

[*Yawn* Use your Aura on your eyes. You should have learned this a while back. It gives some limited form of night vision...]

Mew said, yawning as she went back to her nap. With her little nugget of wisdom, they should manage their way without her help. The Zubat were gone, so she could sleep peacefully again.

Doing as Mew had adviced, Ares concentrated his Aura in his eyes and he suddenly could see the surroundings a little better. It was still dark, but he could at least see where he was going now without tripping over his own feet. He was once again glad he had aura and was capable of using it.

Going further inside, they saw multiple Geodude moving about, breaking rocks and battling each other. There were even some Gravelers that were the leaders of their respective groups. They were clearly fighting to see which one was stronger. The winner would take over the other group, fusing them effectively into one group. Most of the time, the winner would end up becoming a Golem later down the line.

'Let's avoid these groups. They are too big for Eevee to take on. Lucario could easily deal with them, but it would be bad if they got reinforcements. Don't even mention the fact that Pichu and Eevee have pretty poor defense as well' Ares thought as he took a wide berth from the Geodude colony.

A few stray Geodude saw them, but they didn't give them even a thought as they began to eat a few rocks that were lying about on the ground.

It was nice that they didn't have to fight against too many opponents, as that was just a pain in the ass, even if it was a good experience for his pokemon. Lucario even seemed to look forward to a good battle, making Ares smile wryly at his companion. Maybe if they found a stray Golem it would be good practice for Lucario. If they were alone, it would be a good battle.

'It would be best if we could battle a few outliers first.'

Yet something didn't seem to agree with that thought, as he was a bit flabbergasted when he stumbled upon a group of four Graveler ganging up on a Clefable that was protecting a Clefairy child. In the hand of the Clefairy child was a small rock, something the Graveler were clearly angry about.

'The Clefairy must have taken the rock for itself, not knowing that it was the Graveler's food.'

Following that thought, Ares could understand the situation, yet that rock didn't seem normal, as it clearly looked like an evolutionary stone. A moon stone to be precise, something Clefairy needed to evolve.

The Clefairy held the stone tightly, while hidding behind its parent, the Clefable who was trying to defuse the situation.

Before the Clefabel could do anything, one of the Graveler used rollout on the Clefable, followed by two others. The strongest Graveler looked at the Clefable with a sneer on its face. It hadn't intended to talk this out, opting for a simple beat down to take away the rock with force.

The Clefable took some heavy hits, still protecting her child, who the Graveler were clearly aiming at. Clefable couldn't even retaliate, as the Graveler would move about and start targeting the Clefairy again. They were really too vicious!

Not one to stand by when something like this happened, Ares intervened.

"Lucario, use Bone rush on the leader. Eevee, use Shadow ball on the other Graveler."

Lucario and Eevee rushed forward, protecting the Clefable while attacking the Graveler. Lucario as the strong attacker he was, hit the attacking Graveler hard with a Bone rush, making them back off and some even faint before he attacked the leader. Lucario was plenty to deal with them, but it was a good opportunity for Lucario and Eevee to work together.

Ares went to help the Clefable and Clefairy, the small child looking up at him in caution. It relaxed a little when Pichu began to cheer it up by patting its head.

"We need to get away from here. Lucario and Eevee can handle it, but we will only bother them if they need to protect us as well."

The Clefable understood as it pointed a certain way, gesturing for Ares to walk that way.

"Lucario, finish it up soon. We can't stay here for long."

The other colony of Graveler and Geodude were near. It would be disasterous if they came to help the Gravelers. Lucario nodded, a battle hungry smile on his face as he picked up his pace, hitting the Graveler where it hurt. The leader was quickly taken down, making the still conscious henchmen flee.

"Let's go."

Eevee and Lucario followed Ares, as Clefable led them through the tunnels. The path had many branches, making it easier to get lost should they be on their own. Luckily Clefable knew the way and they eventually ended up in a big open space with in the center a giant rock.

Surrounding the rock were smaller pieces, all surrounding it as the Clefairy danced around it. The gathering of Clefairy looked at the injured Clefable, while a few came forward to heal it with the move Life Dew. The Clefairy child left its parents protection and put the stone with the others and joined the other Clefairy. Hidden behind the few Clefable, a small group of Cleffa, looked on from behind their backs at the strangers that had suddenly arrived. They had no intention to come forward at all, shy as they were.

The Clefairy however, called for Ares and his pokemon to join them as they all began to share berries they had found on the mountain. A clear thanks for his help in assisting the injured Clefable.

Ares accepted one, as did his pokemon, but his own pokemon still looked at Ares with begging eyes for him to make them more food. He now had the berries received from the Clefairy, which should be enough to make something delicious. Ares laughed at them, their actions very funny.

"Sure, why not."

Grabbing his cooking utensils, Ares began to make them pokemon food. Pichu the enthusiastic little bugger helped in making it, all too happy to singe the berries that needed it to enhance the taste. After a bit of mashing, cutting and cooking later, Ares finished it quickly as he placed the bowls in front of them. The Clefairy were interested as well, looking at how delighted Ares's pokemon were as they were munching away on it. This caught their attention, as they inched closer to see what the treat looked like.

"Here, have some as well."

Ares handed a few Poffins he had made before he came here, letting the Clefairy share amongst themselves. They were happily snacking on it as even more Clefairy came for food. Even some of the Cleffa joined as well, getting over their fears and insecurities to take a share of the food.

'This is getting awkward.'

In front of Ares was a crowd made of Clefable,Clefairy and Cleffa, patiently waiting for a Poffin. At the side, the Clefairy child was watching with envy at Ares's pokemon. They could eat Ares's food all the time. They were so lucky. Their trainer seemed nice too, not like the tales of bad humans her mom had told her about.

The Clefable looked at her Clefairy child and knew what she was thinking. Clefable smiled and pushed her Clefairy child towards Ares. Clefairy was a bit confused at why her parent would do that.

'You want to go with him right? We'll be fine, you have some fun and travel about. He won't mind, I'm sure.'

Clefairy nodded at her parents words. It would be fun if she could go with him. She had always wondered what the world outside of the cave looked like. Unfortunately it was too dangerous for her to find out, especially when a human would occasionally pass by their hide out.

Under the constant urging of the mom Clefable, Clefairy walked towards Ares and tugged on his trousers.

"What's wrong? Want another?"

The Clefairy shook her head, but then again, the Poffin were really delicious. She received one Poffin but continued to stay besides Ares. Ares smiled wryly at the Clefairy. She was the Clefairy child that had been with the Clefable. He was a bit stumped at why it was so close to him. Lucario noticed and went to talk with the Clefairy. The Clefairy first backed away a bit, as Lucario was very big and scary in her eyes, but gathered her courange and told Lucario what she wanted. Understanding what the Clefairy wanted, Lucario let it know to Ares with gestures and partially with his Aura.

"You want to travel with me? Are you sure you want to go? There aren't only nice people outside and there will be many hard battles we'll face."

The Clefairy was still as adamant as before. She liked this human who would protect them even if he was outmatched in numbers. Clefairy nodded at Ares, pointing at a pokeball on his hip and then towards herself.

"Then its good having you with us, Clefairy."

Ares grabbed an empty pokeball and held it in front of Clefairy. Clefairy pressed her little hand against it and was sucked inside. The pokeball wiggled shortly before it stopped. Releasing Clefairy outside again, she went to say goodbye to the other Clefairy and her mom as she knew Ares would most likely move on very soon. As a gift, Clefairy had received the precious stone she had found herself from her mom.

Seeing this, Ares put it in a little pouch with a string and hung it around Clefairy's neck. He had recognised the stone immediately as a moon stone, but he would wait for Clefairy to decide when she would use it.

Having said their goodbyes, Ares and his pokemon left the clearing, traveling through the tunnels with Clefairy as guide and arrived at the outside of Mt. Moon, close to Cerulean City.