Granite Cave

Thanks to Mr. Briney, the gang had arrived in Dewford Town and had a good night's sleep at the Pokemon Center. Now it was daytime and the gang started to think about what to do next. Ash was looking up the Dewford Gym on the computer and saw that the gym leader used fighting type Pokemon.

"Are you going to use Taillow and Ralts?" Tomo asked. He was aware that flying and psychic type Pokemon were super-effective against fighting type Pokemon.

"Yes I will." Ash said. "But Ralts needs more training and practice first."

"Okay." Tomo said.

Just then Brock told the others where he wanted to go; he wanted to go to a cave called Granite Cave located northeast of Dewford Town.

"The guidebook says that Nosepass can be found there." Brock explained. "And I want one for myself."

The gang nodded, Nosepass was a rock type Pokemon.

"Why don't we all go there?" Ash suggested. "We all might find a Pokemon we want to capture there."

"Yeah let's do that." Max said excitedly.

"And Mr. Stone told us that his son Steven will probably be there, so I think this is a good opportunity to meet him." May said.

"You know." Ash said. "I just found out on the computer that Steven is also the Hoenn Region's Champion."

"Really? Then we have to go and meet Steven." Max asked.

So the gang arrived to head to Granite Cave.

Granite Cave was located northeast of Dewford Town and it was one big cave.

"Since this cave is so big, how will we find our way through it and back?" May asked. "I mean, we will get lost in there."

"Don't worry." Brock said. "I have a solution to that."

Brock took out a packet of big stickers from his backpack.

"These stickers are markers." He said. "And they glow in the dark so if we get lost we just follow the markers."

"That's smart." Max said.

The gang also got out their flashlights to see because it was dark in the Granite Cave.

"Let's go." Ash instructed as they headed into the cave.

What they didn't know was that trouble wasn't far behind. Jessie, James and Meowth were in the cave searching for Pokemon.

"I wonder what Pokemon are lurking around the cave." Meowth said.

"Just as long as they are strong Pokemon, it doesn't matter." Jessie said.

"We better be careful though." James said. "Remember when we went into the Rock Tunnel back in Kanto? The Pokemon there kept stampeding towards us?"

"Yeah but you don't need to worry about that now. My Granbull will handle the stampede with her Roar attack." Jessie said.

"That's right." Meowth said. "Roar is able to scare Pokemon away. I've seen it happen before."

"Good to know." James replied.

The gang had now walked a long, long way from the entrance of the cave.

"I'm glad you're putting markers up Brock." Ash said. "This cave is like a maze."

"I agree, considering all the twists and turns." Brock said. "And if Steven Stone is in here, well trying to find him won't be easy."

Just then there was a whimpering noise echoing through one of the tunnels of the cave.

"That sounds like a child who's lost and scared." Brock said. "We better see what the noise is."

The gang followed the sound into the tunnel where it was coming from. Then they found three pink and yellow Pokemon that nearly resembled rabbits.

"Hey those are Whismur." Max said.

May looked Whismur up on the Pokedex.

"Whismur, the Whisper Pokemon. Normally, Whismur's voice is very quiet - it is barely audible even if one is paying close attention. However, if this Pokemon senses danger, it starts crying at an earsplitting volume."

The three Whismur were trembling in fear.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Max asked.

The Whismur started to speak.

"They're saying that they are being chased by a Loudred." Ash explained.

Ash looked Loudred up on the Pokedex.

"Loudred, the Big Voice Pokemon and the evolved form of Whismur. Loudred's bellowing can completely decimate a wood-frame house. It uses it's voice to punish it's foes. This Pokemon's round ears serve as loudspeakers."

"This Loudred must be bullying the Whismur." Brock said.

"But why would the Loudred bully these three Whismur?" May asked. "I mean, Whismur evolve into Loudred."

"Well the truth is May Pokemon do bully each other, especially Pokemon who are in their final evolved forms." Ash informed her. "They like to pick on Pokemon that are still in their small forms. Brock, Tomo and I have seen it happen before."

May couldn't believe her ears when she heard that Pokemon bully each other. Max comforted the Whismur and stroked their ears. The Whismur liked the stroking and considered Max to be a friend.

"I suggest that we keep going." Ash advised. "If there is a troublesome Loudred in here, I recommend we find Steven and ask him for help."

The others liked that idea. The three Whismur wanted to come too and the gang agreed to let them accompany them.

The gang was about to continue walking but then they heard another noise; a rumbling noise.

"What's that noise?" May asked nervously.

"It sounds like a earthquake to me." Max said.

"Not a earthquake." Ash corrected him. "It's a stampede."

"Ash is right." Brock nodded. "We've heard this noise before."

"What do we do?" May asked.

"It sounds like it's far away." Brock said. "But we should get out of here. It's dangerous to stay in the area where there's going to be a stampede."

"I agree, we should get out of here." May added.

But before the gang went anywhere, they suddenly fell through a hole and ended up falling down in different tunnels. The gang ended up getting separated; Ash, Tomo and Growlithe went down one tunnel together, May and Max, with the three Whismur, went down another tunnel together and Brock went down another tunnel alone.

Ash, Tomo and Growlithe ended up on a lower level of the Granite Cave.

"You guys okay?" Ash asked.

"Yes, but what happened?" Tomo questioned.

"Some Pokemon must have been tunneling, which is why we ended up down a hole." Ash said. "And my guess is that the Pokemon stampede we heard earlier may have some involvement with it."

"What do we do now Ash?" Tomo asked.

"I need you and Growlithe to be quiet for a moment while I think." He said.

Tomo and Growlithe thought that Ash might use his psychic power to help, so they stayed very quiet. Ash closed his eyes.

*'We are now lost in this cave.'* He thought. *'And we still haven't found Steven Stone. I need to calm down and think of what to do.'*

Suddenly Ash, with his eyes still closed saw a bluish light outlining the cave. He opened his eyes and stopped seeing the blue light.

*'What was that?'* He wondered.

He closed his eyes to focus on the blue light again. The blue light appeared again and it showed him surroundings of the cave including a drawing of two Pokemon fighting over a source of energy. It even showed him the presence of a human in the cave. He opened his eyes again.

"Come on Tomo, Growlithe." Ash said. "I think I now know where we need to go."

Tomo and Growlithe didn't understand what Ash had been doing, but they followed him. Ash had his eyes closed and the blue light was helping him know where they had to go.

*'I don't know what it is I'm seeing now.'* Ash thought. *'I mean this isn't my psychic power doing this. But whatever it is, it is helping us at the moment.'*

He and the others kept on running.

At that time a light grey-haired man was walking around the cave with a Aron beside him; the man was Steven Stone. Aron was a steel/rock type Pokemon with blue eyes, a grey underbelly and it's body was covered in grey armor. They heard the stampede and they also saw the hole that the gang had fallen in earlier; Steven wanted to know what was going on. Just then Ash, Tomo and Growlithe ran towards him.

"Excuse me, but are you by chance Steven Stone?" Ash asked.

"Yes I am." Steven said. "Are you boys lost?"

"Yes we are." Ash said.

He told Steven that he and the others fell down a hole after hearing the stampede.

"I understand and I think I have a idea about what's going on." Steven said. "You see, Aron live here and I've heard a Pokemon making a ruckus in the cave, so that must be upsetting the Aron."

"Ruckus?" Ash asked. "Is the Loudred we ran into earlier responsible."

He told Steven about their encounter with the three Whismur and that they were chased into the cave by a Loudred.

"If that Loudred is the cause we better deal with it immediately." Steven said. "It's not good if the peace in this cave is disturbed. You three follow me; I know the ins and outs of this cave as I have been exploring it for a while now."

Ash and Tomo were delighted and they followed Steven.

Meanwhile Brock was trying to find the others.

"This is going to be hard, especially since none of my markers are here." He said. "I hope the others are okay."

Suddenly he heard a noise; a moaning noise.

"That sounds like someone's hurt. Let's find out what." Brock followed the sound and came across five Nosepass that looked like they had been in a fight.

"Hold on Nosepass, I'll help you all." He said.

He grabbed some Super Potions from his backpack and sprayed them on the five Nosepass.

"There we go, but what happened to you?" One of the Nosepass demonstrated a Pokemon thumping around like crazy.

"Was the Pokemon a Loudred by chance?" Brock asked.

He thought that the same Loudred that bullied the three Whismur was behind it and was proven right when the Nosepass nodded yes.

"Okay Nosepass, I was separated from my friends. If you help me find them, we'll deal with the Loudred Problem." The five Nosepass were happy to help Brock and one of them used their nose compass to help lead him in the right direction.

May, Max and the three Whismur were running down tunnels like crazy. They had run into a swarm of Aron and they were angry.

"What on earth did we do to make the Aron angry?" May asked.

"Nothing." Max answered. "Aron tend to be aggressive."

Right now they had come to an underground waterfall and the Aron surrounded them.

"Now what do we do?" May asked, panicking.

Just then Brock appeared and saw the commotion. He was about to think of something, but then Steven, Ash and Tomo came into view. Steven ordered his Aron to use Roar and that caused the wild Aron to calm down.

"It's all right now." Steven said. "Loudred isn't here and these are good people. Go back to your tunnels now."

The Aron did as they were told.

May, Max and Brock were grateful and thanked Steven as well as introduced themselves to him.

"I'm happy to have helped all of you." Steven said. "But I need to find that Loudred. It has caused a lot of trouble in this cave not to mention it's disturbed the Pokemon who live here. You wait here while I search for it."

Then he took off.

"Will Steven be alright?" May asked. "I mean won't he get lost?"

"Don't worry." Ash said. "He told me and Tomo that he has been exploring this cave for a while so he knows his way around."

"That's good to hear." Max sighed.

Just then an Aron popped out of the ground. This Aron had a green underbelly, red eyes and it's armor was a greenish color.

"That Aron is shiny." Ash said. "Which is great because I'm going to catch it."

He released Pikachu and ordered it to use Focus Punch on Aron. Since it was a steel/rock type Pokemon Focus Punch would do 4x damage. Ash then caught it in a Poke Ball.

Suddenly the Poke Ball disappeared.

"What happened?" May asked.

Ash informed her that if a trainer has six Pokemon any Pokemon that are captured go straight to the professor's lab where the trainer obtained their trainer's license from.

"So my Aron went to Prof. Oak's lab." Ash said. "And in your case your seventh Pokemon will go to Prof. Birch's lab because you got your license there."

"Oh I see." May said.

Max turned to the three Whismur and said that he wanted to catch them.

"I want us to be together as friends forever, so can I catch you?" He asked.

The three Whismur accepted; they wanted to stay with Max too, so he captured them.

Brock captured the five Nosepass; he wanted one for himself and the other four would be for the Pewter Gym. May started to feel left out because everyone, including Max had more Pokemon than her.

"Don't worry May." Ash said. "We still have many more places in Hoenn to visit, so you will catch some more Pokemon."

Steven then returned.

"Did you find the Loudred?" Brock asked.

"No." Steven said. "It seems that the Loudred is no longer roaming around Granite Cave."

"If it has left then good riddance." Brock muttered. "Especially with all the trouble it caused."

Steven agreed. With Steven's help, the gang got out of Granite Cave and Steven also took them to a far side of the island where the gang could train their Pokemon.

"Thanks for helping us Steven." Ash said.

"I'm glad I was able to help." Steven said. "I must ask have you seen my father, the president of the Devon Corporation."

"Yes we have and he sends you his regards." Ash answered.

"It's great to hear that my dad is okay." Steven said.

Steven said goodbye to the gang and left to find another place to explore. The gang thought they had went through a lot today.

"I wonder what happened to that Loudred in Granite Cave." May said.

"I don't know." Brock said. "Maybe it was captured by someone."

"Well if someone has at least Loudred isn't causing any more trouble." Ash said.

It turns out that Loudred had been captured by Jessie. Team Rocket ran into it scaring off a swarm of Zubat in the cave and Jessie was impressed so she captured it. Now Team Rocket left Granite Cave.

"It's a pity we never caught any of the Pokemon inside the cave." James said.

"Never mind I'm glad I captured my Loudred." Jessie said. "But at least we can go somewhere else."

"Yes let's do that." Meowth said.

Team Rocket headed to their next destination.