Chapter 4: Mt. Moon
Brock saw the middle-aged man who had entered and said, "Dad, you're back!" It turned out the man was Brock's father, Flint.
Flint said to Brock, "Brock, you've worked hard taking care of your siblings and the Gym these past two years. You've even brought some fame to the Pewter Gym. Leave the Gym to me now! Go pursue your own dreams!"
Ash looked completely dumbfounded and exclaimed, "So the guy who taught Pikachu Thunderbolt was Brock's dad?!"
Brock said to Ash and Misty, "Ash, Misty, you guys head to the Pokémon Center first. I'll come find you after I finish talking with my dad."
"Why—" Before Ash could finish speaking, Misty dragged him out of the Gym.
Sweat dripped down Brock's forehead as he thought, _Traveling with companions like these is going to take a lot of effort._
Brock turned seriously to Flint and asked, "Dad, in these past two years, did your strength break through to the Elite Four level?"
"You brat! Reaching the Elite Four level isn't that easy! If it were, there wouldn't be so many people stuck at the Pseudo-Elite Four rank. But your old man hasn't been without gains these two years; I've strengthened up a little bit," Flint replied after hearing Brock. Flint's Trainer Rank was Pseudo-Elite Four; there are stronger and weaker trainers within the Pseudo-Elite Four rank.
"Dad," Brock continued, "Forrest turned ten this year. I was going to let him travel to pursue his goal. He told me his goal is to become a Gym Leader, so I originally planned to leave the Gym to him when I went traveling. Now that you're back, you can handle the Gym matters and train Forrest. Forrest doesn't have any Pokémon, so I'll give him the Onix and Geodude you gave me." Brock took out two Poké Balls and placed them in Flint's hands.
Flint looked at the two Poké Balls containing Pokémon in his hand and said to Brock, "Brock, if you give both Pokémon to Forrest, what will you do without any Pokémon? Both the Onix and Geodude have Perfect-level Potential. They would be a great help to your future."
Hearing Flint, Brock joked, "Dad, that's why you need to train Forrest! Make him strong so my Pokémon won't disobey him. Besides, why did you only give me Pokémon with Perfect Potential back then? Why was their Potential so low! So, you see, giving the Pokémon to Forrest is the right choice. I'll go catch some with higher Potential myself."
Hearing Brock's words, Flint retorted, "You brat! Do you think it's easy to encounter Pokémon with high Potential?"
Brock told Flint about all the things his younger siblings liked to eat. Then he went to the Pokémon Center to meet up with Ash and Misty.
Brock arrived at the Pokémon Center and saw Ash and Misty sitting there eating as soon as he entered. Brock walked over and said to them, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Hearing Brock, Misty stopped eating and said, "It's okay, we're partners, right?"
Hearing Misty, Ash chimed in while still eating, "Yeah, we're partners."
Misty asked Brock, "Have you eaten yet? Eat with us!"
Brock replied, "Not yet, don't mind if I do." After speaking, he sat down to eat.
After finishing the meal 'Before reaching the age of sixteen, eating and lodging at Pokémon Centers were free, because the taxes paid to the Pokémon League before the age of ten covered these costs', Brock said to Misty and Ash, "I need to go to the shopping center to buy supplies for our journey. Wait for me here at the Pokémon Center. We'll set off tomorrow."
"Got it!" Ash and Misty said in unison.
Brock went to the shopping center and bought a backpack, Pokémon medicine, human medicine, ingredients for Pokémon food, and ingredients for human food, etc. – things needed for traveling in the wilderness. There was absolutely no need to worry about fitting everything; the spatial technology in this world was very advanced. A single backpack could hold items occupying up to one square meter of space.
By the time Brock finished shopping and returned to the Pokémon Center, it was dark. Brock, Ash, and Misty shared a room (The beds were bunk beds; one room had two sets of bunk beds). Since everyone was tired, they went to sleep early. Before sleeping, Brock used the 'Inspect' skill from his Points System to check Ash's Pikachu's Potential. The result displayed in his mind:
_Pokémon: Pikachu_
_Gender: Male_
_Potential: King_
Brock thought, _Professor Oak... I wonder what expression Professor Oak would have if he knew he gave away a Pikachu with King Potential as a starter Pokémon._ After thinking for a moment, he directly checked the Points System again to see what other functions it had. After looking, he went to sleep.
---
The next morning, Brock woke Ash and Misty up to brush their teeth, wash their faces, and eat so they could get on the road. After eating, they set off. Brock had spent the previous night looking through the Points System's functions and descriptions. He learned that points were obtained through Main Quests and Random Quests/Side Quests. There was also an Item Shop that would only unlock after completing a specific mission.
Since Ash and the others were heading to Cerulean City, to get there faster, the group of three humans plus one Pikachu chose the shortest route. The shortest route went through Mt. Moon, leading directly to Cerulean City. Therefore, the three of them headed towards Mt. Moon.
A few days later, Brock, Ash, and Misty arrived at Mt. Moon. Brock explained to Ash and Misty, "Mt. Moon is famous because you can dig up Moon Stones here and see wild Clefairy."
Hearing this, Misty said to Brock, "Wow, Brock, you know so much."
But Ash, looking clueless again, asked, "Brock, Misty, what's a Moon Stone? And what kind of Pokémon is Clefairy?"
Hearing Ash, Brock and Misty sweat-dropped and said, "Ash, you should really just use your Pokédex to look up Clefairy and Moon Stone!" Following Brock's suggestion, Ash took out his Pokédex and looked up the information.
As the group was walking, they heard a scream of "Ahhh!". They were drawn towards the sound and saw someone who looked like a researcher just outside a cave entrance, being attacked by a swarm of Zubat.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash immediately called out.
Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt, electrocuting the swarm of Zubat and the researcher, paralyzing them all. The man mumbled, "So numb, so numb..."
In the instant Pikachu paralyzed everything, Brock accessed the System in his mind. "Bell, use Inspect to check the Potential of these Zubat, find the one with the highest!"
A "Ding!" sounded in Brock's mind. Seeing Bell's answer displayed, Brock threw an empty Poké Ball.
The Poké Ball struck the Zubat with the highest Potential. The red light on the Poké Ball flashed once with a 'thud,' and the Zubat was successfully caught. The other Zubat flew back into the cave. The paralyzed man recovered and walked over, saying, "Thank you for saving me! I'm Seymour, a researcher from Pewter City."
Brock looked at the man. "Mr. Seymour, why are you here? And why were you being attacked by a swarm of Zubat?"
Seymour replied, "I'm here investigating why the Pokémon in this area seem prone to attacking people. But as soon as I entered the cave, I was attacked by that swarm of Zubat."
"Then let's go into the cave and find out why," Brock said, leading Ash, Misty, and Seymour into the cave entrance.
Once inside, the group discovered bright lights illuminating the entire cave. Seymour saw this and exclaimed, "No wonder the Zubat attacked me! So that's what's going on!"
Ash asked, "Brock, what's going on?"
Brock explained, "Zubat live in dark, damp caves. These bright lights are likely agitating them, making them unstable and causing them to attack people."
Ash replied, "Oh, I see!"
"Let's go further in and see who put these lights here," Brock suggested.
"Okay!" Misty, Ash, and Seymour agreed in unison.
Brock took out a Poké Ball. "Come out, Zubat! Lead us to whoever did this." The newly caught Zubat nodded and flew ahead, guiding them deeper into the cave.
Seeing the Zubat, Ash asked, "Brock, how did you get a Zubat?"
"I just caught it now, Ash. Let's hurry and follow it!" Brock replied, quickening his pace to keep up with his Zubat.
Ash said "Oh," and followed. The Zubat led them to the depths of the cave. There, they saw a man and a woman wearing clothes emblazoned with a large 'R', accompanied by a cat-like Pokémon. Brock immediately asked, "Who are you people?"
"Prepare for trouble!" the woman began.
"And make it double!" the man continued.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples 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!"
Then, a talking Meowth jumped into the middle, adding, "Meowth! That's right!"
Suddenly, a "Ding!" sounded in Brock's mind (audible only to him, of course). He checked the system interface and saw two active missions displayed:
_Main Quest: Accompany Ash on his journey to the Kanto League._
_Reward: 50,000 Points. Status: Incomplete._
_Random Quest: Catch the talking Meowth._
_Reward: 500 Points._
_Note: Talking Pokémon are generally very intelligent; capturing one would be greatly beneficial to the Host._
After reading the mission, Brock looked at Team Rocket's Meowth and thought, _This must be the Meowth the system wants me to catch. After all, from watching the anime in my past life, this is the only talking Meowth I know of._
"Team Rocket!" Brock confronted them. "You're the ones who put up these lights in the cave, aren't you? Making all the Pokémon here agitated!"
Jessie replied nonchalantly, "So what if we did? We're digging for Moon Stones here to sell them later. And we plan on catching all the Pokémon here too!"
James pointed at the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and added, "And we'll grab that Pikachu too! We'll present them all to Boss Giovanni!"
Hearing James, Ash retorted, "You're not getting Pikachu! I won't let you get away with this! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" A current of electricity surged from Pikachu towards Team Rocket.
"Paralyzed! You sneak-attacked us! We haven't even sent out our Pokémon yet!" Team Rocket complained, twitching from the shock.
Seeing Meowth about to be knocked out by Pikachu's attack, Brock quickly took out an empty Poké Ball and threw it. Meowth was sucked into the Poké Ball. The light on the ball flashed a few times, then with a 'ding,' it went out. Capture successful! Brock went over, picked up the Poké Ball, and put it away safely.
Hearing Team Rocket's complaint, Misty retorted, "You're the bad guys! We don't need to fight fair with you!"
Just as Misty finished speaking, an explosion occurred (likely from Team Rocket's overloaded equipment or a stray attack). Team Rocket was sent blasting off into the sky. A voice echoed from above, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
"Misty, Ash, Mr. Seymour, we need to get out of this cave quickly! It's about to collapse!" Brock said, recalling his Zubat. The group then quickly ran out of the cave.
Just as they dashed out of the entrance, they saw a large group of Zubat and other Pokémon following them out before the cave mouth collapsed behind them with a rumble. Ash looked back and said, "Whew, glad we made it out."
Hearing him, Misty retorted angrily, "And whose fault is it that it collapsed? It's because you had Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
Hearing them argue, Brock interjected, "Stop arguing. The important thing is that we and the Pokémon are all safe."
Seymour added, agreeing, "Brock is right."