Mt. Moon

After obtaining the Boulder Badge Ash, Misty and Brock were heading to their next destination so Ash could acquire his 2nd Gym Badge. He was looking at the map that was in his possession.

"According to this, we have to pass through Mt. Moon to get to the next city." He said.

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

"You know, stories say that a meteorite once crashed into the mountain."

"Really? Is that true?" Misty asked Brock.

"I'm not sure." Brock admitted. "But the meteor is known as the Moon Stone."

"It's a evolutionary stone used by certain types of Pokemon."

"What?" Misty repeated.

"You didn't know that?" Ash questioned.

The gang then heard a scream coming from the distance.

"What was that?" Ash gasped.

"Sounds like someone needs help." Brock said. "We better check it out."

They ran to the scream's source. A man was being attacked by a group of bat-like Pokemon.

Ash scanned them on the Pokedex.

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

"Pikachu, Rookidee get rid of those Zubat." Thunder Shock and Fury Attack forced the Zubat to escape.

"Thank you so much." The man said. "Those Zubat were crazy. My name's Seymour. I'm a scientist and researcher."

"I'm Ash and these are my friends Brock and Misty." Ash introduced them.

"What's going on? And why were those Zubat attacking you?"

"Take a look." Seymour pointed towards the cave.

There were lights strung up inside the cave.

"Those lights caused the Zubat to attack me." Seymour explained.

"I'm not surprised." Brock said. "Zubat aren't big fans of light."

"And Zubat isn't the only one being affected. The Sandshrew and Paras are being affected as well."

One of the Sandshrew was panting uncontrollably. Ash took his canteen and held it in front of Sandshrew.

"Do you want some water?" He asked. Sandshrew immediately accepted the water and started gulping it down.

Misty and Brock smiled.

"You're very nice." Seymour said, smiling. "I came here to protect Mt. Moon from troublemakers."

"What would troublemakers be doing here?" Misty asked.

"I suspect it's regarding the Moon Stone." Ash theorized.

"You would be correct." Seymour nodded. "Because the Moon Stone is millions of years old and is said to possess special powers, they want to take it for themselves."

"That's horrible." Ash said.

"I agree." Misty added.

Suddenly Brock saw a pink Pokemon hopping around the mountain.

"Hey look, a Clefairy." Brock said.

"Ah it's so cute." Misty squealed.

Ash saw Clefairy was holding something.

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

"You're right." Seymour said. "Hey I have a idea. Let's follow that Clefairy to the meteorite."

Ash, Misty and Brock thought it was a great idea and all four of them followed the Clefairy. The Sandshrew followed as well; it didn't want Ash to leave after receiving water from him.

While they followed Clefairy, more and more lights could be seen inside the mountain.

"These lights are probably all over Mt. Moon." Ash said.

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

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

"If you want trouble, we'll give it to you." A male voice said.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And 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 blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth that's right." Meowth said.

A frightened Clefairy hid behind Ash.

"Team Rocket." Ash said. "We've encountered each other once before."

"We haven't forgotten you twerp." Jessie said. "But we have more important matters to attend to."

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

"So you three planted the lights." Brock said.

"Of course." James stated. "The lights will help us find the Moon Stone."

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

"What a shame." Jessie smirked. "That's too bad."

"You're going to pay for this!" Brock shouted. "If you just want a rock, take it and get lost."

"Get lost? How rude!" Jessie shouted. "You twerps need to learn some manners."

"Bring it on." Ash challenged.

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

Ash decided to scan Ekans and Koffing to learn more about them.

"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 types of toxic gases in it's body, it is prone to explode without warning."

"If you want a battle, fine." Ash said. "Rookidee, I choose you."

"Go Zubat."

Ash was surprised that Brock got his hands on a Zubat.

"I caught Zubat before we entered Mt. Moon." He explained.

"Get out of here and keep Clefairy safe." Ash ordered. He also instructed Sandshrew to do the same. Misty and Seymour nodded, then ran off with Clefairy and Sandshrew.

"All right Koffing, use Smog!" James shouted.

Koffing started to blow gas out of it's mouth.

"Quick Zubat, use Double Team and Wing Attack to send that gas back at them." Brock said. The Double Team/Wing Attack combo blew the gas back towards Team Rocket.

"Ekans use Bite on those Pokemon." Jessie ordered.

"Pikachu, Thunder Punch!" Pikachu's paw glows yellow and sparks of electricity surround it. It then punched Ekans.

"Zubat, Supersonic!" Zubat released blue sound waves at Ekans and Koffing, confusing the two and causing them to fight each other. This annoyed Team Rocket.

"Rookidee, send them flying with Swift!" White stars were fired from Rookidee's wings and they struck Team Rocket as well as their Pokemon.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Jessie and James shouted.

Brock and Ash were just about to celebrate driving Team Rocket off when they noticed something.

"Wait, where's Meowth?" Ash asked. "I didn't see him disappear into the horizon with Team Rocket."

"Neither did I." Brock said. "Let's go find Misty and Seymour before anything bad happens."

Misty and Seymour were chasing Clefairy, who was jumping around like 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." It said. "Now be a nice Clefairy and give me the Moon Stone."

Clefairy quivered in fear.

"Leave that Clefairy alone!" Seymour shouted.

"Not gonna happen." Meowth said. It took out it's claws. "Face my Scratch attack."

"I don't think so, Meowth!" Misty shouted. She released her Staryu.

"Staryu, Swift!" Staryu fired white stars from the gem in the center of it's body. Meowth cried out in pain and stopped in it's tracks. "Now use Water Gun!" A stream of blue water hit Meowth and caused him to blast off.

"Are you guys alright?" Ash asked. He and Brock had just arrived to back them up.

"Yeah, we're okay." Misty answered.

Sandshrew was happy to see Ash and ran up to him.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay Sandshrew." Ash knelt down and rubbed his head. Clefairy watched Sandshrew bond with him, intrigued.

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

"Hey Brock, what did you just feed Zubat?" He asked.

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

Ash gave some of the food to Rookidee and Pikachu.

"Would you have a problem teaching me how to make it?" Ash asked him.

"No problem." Brock said. "I'll begin when we reach the next city."

Sandshrew and Clefairy were conversing with each other in their native language. Sandshrew told Clefairy that it decided to go with Ash. Clefairy stared at him and decided it wanted to go with him as well. Ash who had been watching Sandshrew and Clefairy checked them out on the Pokedex.

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

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

Clefairy then got up, called out to everyone and began hopping into the mountain.

"I think Clefairy wants us to follow it." Seymour noted. The four proceeded to follow Clefairy.

Clefairy led them to a crater. It was now night and a full moon was out. In the middle of the crater was a giant rock with lots of Clefairy surrounding it.

"It'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 small Moon Stones. Once that piece was with the others, both the big and small Moon Stones began to glow and the Clefairy began to dance around the Moon Stone.

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

Sandshrew spoke to Ash informing him what the Clefairy were doing.

"Got it." Ash said. "Sandshrew just told me that Clefairy pray to the Moon Stone so some of them will evolve into Clefable."

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

Just then there was a explosion beneath the Moon Stone.

"What just happened?!" Seymour shouted.

Laughter was then heard.

"Team Rocket." Ash narrowed his eyes.

"Thank you for helping us find the Moon Stone." Jessie chuckled. "Now we will take it for ourselves."

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

"We can and we will." James smirked.

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

"Oh no." Seymour said. "We must get the Moon Stone back."

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

Brock told Onix to snake through the hole Team Rocket left behind. The gang followed Onix as well as Clefairy and Sandshrew.

Team Rocket was sliding down the mountain on a sled with the Moon Stone. They believed they were successful when suddenly Onix came out of the ground and stopped them.

"The Moon Stone stays here!" Ash shouted.

Team Rocket became angry and were just about to call for their Pokemon when Clefairy showed up. It was not happy with them and began to it's arms around.

"That's Metronome." Seymour explained. "It allows Clefairy to copy a attack but you never know which one it is."

In this case it was Hyper Beam and Team Rocket was sent flying into the sky.

Everyone was happy that the Moon Stone was safe. Just then chips from the giant Moon Stone that had broken off from the attack fell from the sky and landed on some of the Clefairy. The Clefairy that the Moon Stone fragments had fallen on began to glow and evolved into Clefable.

"That proves it's a evolutionary stone." Ash commented.

Misty, Brock and Seymour agreed with him.

Ash looked Clefable up on the Pokedex.

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

When morning came Ash, Brock and Misty decided to leave. Seymour chose to remain at Mt. Moon to study the Moon Stone some more.

"After last night." He said. "I feel there's more I need to learn."

Ash, Brock and Misty nodded then said farewell to him and the Clefairy and Clefable. As they were getting ready to leave though Sandshrew and a Clefable walked up to Ash.

"What's wrong, guys?" He asked. They nuzzled his legs.

"Seems to me that Sandshrew and Clefable want to go with you." Brock noted.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked. "You two want to join me?"

Sandshrew and Clefable nodded. Ash held out two Poke Balls and tapped them on Sandshrew and Clefable. A few seconds later they had been caught.

"I just got two new Pokemon." Ash said with a smile.

The gang was now walking down a path, when they saw a sign. It read Cerulean City.

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

"You think so." Ash said. "We'll see who the real loser is at the Indigo League."

He then continued walking with Misty and Brock not far behind.