Chapter Eight
"A Troublemaker In Mount Moon!"
"Look. There's a sign up ahead of us," Andrew said, gesturing to the sign.
"Let's go see what the sign says!" Hoshi exclaimed.
Andrew and Hoshi went up to the sign and read it.
"This way to Mount Moon," Andrew read the sign outloud.
"We're almost to Mount Moon. The entrance isn't too far from here," Hoshi said.
They came to the entrance of Mount Moon and went inside.
A strange creature came flying toward them and flew over their heads.
"Hey! Whatever that thing was, it just buzzed me!" Andrew exclaimed as he half ducked.
"Don't you mean it dive-bombed you?" Hoshi asked, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, well let's see how you like it when something comes along and buzzes you! Personally, I hate being buzzed by flying pokemon!" Andrew exclaimed as he saw Hoshi laughing and gave her a funny look.
"Relax, it's only a Zubat," Hoshi said, pointing to where the Zubat had perched.
Andrew turned to look at Zubat. "I knew that! It's just that the Zubat kind of surprised me," he said.
"It was kind of funny to see you get buzzed by that Zubat," Hoshi said.
"Whatever," Andrew replied.
"I've heard about Zubats from Kitt, but this is the first time that I've seen one in person and not just a picture of one," Hoshi remarked.
They continued to explore Mount Moon. Andrew was lagging several feet behind Hoshi. He was still kind of disgusted with Hoshi for laughing about his being buzzed by a Zubat.
Hoshi stopped walking and looked around them as she heard faint noises echoing around in the cavern.
"Why did you stop walking?" Andrew asked her.
"I don't think we are alone in here, Andrew. I just heard a noise," Hoshi said.
"Of course we're not alone in here. Pokemon live here. You probably just heard one of them," Andrew replied.
"That noise I heard didn't sound like a pokemon to me," Hoshi said.
"I don't hear anything," Andrew replied.
They continued walking forward again.
Just then Hoshi heard the same noise again and stopped walking.
Andrew ran right into her. "Why did you have to stop walking right in the middle of the path? I almost fell over!" Andrew exclaimed, sounding a bit impatient.
"I just heard the same noise again. Do you hear it?" Hoshi asked him.
"It was probably just the wind blowing across an opening in the cave walls," Andrew said.
"Look. If you don't believe me, I'll go check it out myself and prove to you that the noise I heard wasn't a pokemon or the wind!" Hoshi exclaimed, quickly going off to find the source of the noise she heard.
"Suit yourself. But I'm not chasing around here looking for the source of a noise that you claimed to have heard!" Andrew exclaimed, leaning against the wall.
But Hoshi had already left and didn't hear what he said. Again she heard the noises and followed the direction that they seemed be be coming from.
A boy was standing in the passageway muttering something about pokemon.
'I was right! I did hear something!' she exclaimed to herself.
The boy sounded upset.
"Hi. Do you need some help?" Hoshi asked.
"No! I don't need your help! I'm just mad that I can't catch any pokemon. I've seen several pokemon in here but they always escape before I get the chance to catch them. Now leave me alone!" he exclaimed in a mad voice. Then he hurried off.
Hoshi made her way back to where Andrew was.
"So did you find out what that noise was?" Andrew asked.
"Yes I did. It was some boy complaining about pokemon," Hoshi replied.
"I guess you were right about the noise," Andrew said.
They went on the way again. Then they came to a cavern and saw a strange sight. The same boy was in the cavern trying to get a Zubat into a pokeball. There were a bunch of cages, pokemon food, and pokeballs on the floor behind the boy. "And now, if I don't get all of these dratted pokemon in Mount Moon, I won't get my-- ," the boy said.
Hoshi ran out of the tunnel and confronted the boy. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but you won't get away with it!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, get out of here, kid! I haven't got time to play with a foolish child! Nosy brat always sticking their nose into things that don't concern them!" he angrily exclaimed when he saw Hoshi.
The Zubat flew away.
Andrew stood at the mouth of the tunnel. "Do you know that guy?" he asked Hoshi.
"Great! Another one! Just what I don't need!" the boy exclaimed when he saw Andrew.
"Just who are you, anyway?" Andrew asked him.
"My name is Gabriel. Learn it, because soon the entire world will know it! Now go away, you pesky kids and don't come back!" he exclaimed, looking very annoyed.
"What are you doing here?" Hoshi asked Gabriel.
"I'm a pokemon trainer hoping to earn badges and complete in the Pokemon League," Gabriel said.
"If you're a pokemon trainer, then where is your badge from the Pewter City Gym? I want to see it!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"I left it in the other room. Let me go get it and I'll show you!" Gabriel exclaimed.
Gabriel noticed Hoshi looking at the stuff behind him.
"Are those your things?" she asked.
"This isn't what it looks like! That isn't my stuff! I found them here when I came here!" Gabriel quickly protested.
"I don't believe that! I think you're lying!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"You're alot smarter than you look, Hoshi..." Gabriel said.
"How did you know my name? Wait, what the heck are you doing here in the first place? Answer my question!" Hoshi demanded of him.
"Fine! It's not like you can stop me... You see, I came here to find Moon pokemon like Clefairies, Jigglypuffs, and Nidorans," Gabriel explained.
"And what were you going to do with all of those pokemon?" Hoshi asked.
"Why sell them for money, of course!" Gabriel replied.
"That's so selfish!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"Enough! I grow weary of this talk! Go Burakki!" Gabriel shouted, throwing out a pokeball.
A Burakki shot out of the pokeball.
Hoshi and Andrew were both surprised by the appearance of the Burakki.
"What is that?" Hoshi asked when she saw the Burakki. She started to take out a pokeball.
"Let me handle this Burakki, Hoshi. It's a dark pokemon and none of your pokemon have any real advantage over it," Andrew said.
"Very well, then Andrew," Hoshi replied as she put the pokeball away.
"Let's go, Scyther!" Andrew exclaimed as he threw out a pokeball.
Scyther popped out of the pokeball.
"Your Scyther is no match for my Burakki!" Gabriel boasted.
"Are you ready for battle, Scyther?" Andrew asked.
Scyther first looked at Andrew, then at Gabriel and his Burakki. Then, Scyther challenged Burakki to a fight.
Use your Quick Attack, Scyther!" Andrew exclaimed.
"Burakki! Use your Screech Attack!" Gabriel exclaimed.
But Scyther's Quick Attack gave him the advantage and he attacked first.
Burakki tried to use its Screech Attack, but the attack failed.
"Keep using your Quick Attack, Scyther!" Andrew called out.
"Tackle Attack, Burakki!" Gabriel exclaimed.
Burakki ran and leapt at Scyther.
The Attack took Scyther by surprise and it staggered back a few steps.
"Slash Attack now, Scyther!" Andrew exclaimed.
Scyther slashed at Burakki.
The blow knocked Burakki off of Scyther and Burakki landed in a heap on the ground.
"Use your Quick Attack!" Gabriel exclaimed.
Burakki rose to its feet. It tried to use its Quick Attack but misjudged the distance and the attack missed.
"Burakki's looking tired! Agility Attack!" Andrew exclaimed to Scyther.
Scyther quickly attacked one last time and Burakki sunk to the floor, breathing heavily.
"Return, Burakki!" Gabriel exclaimed as he recalled his exhausted pokemon.
"Return, Scyther!" Andrew called out, recalling Scyther as well.
"So, you think you have won this battle! Well, guess again!" Gabriel exclaimed. Using his Quick Attack move, he quickly darted over to where Hoshi and Andrew were standing, snatched their backpacks out of their hands, and returned to his spot before they even knew what was happening.
"Hey! Give us back our supplies!" Hoshi exclaimed as she recovered from her suprise.
"What are you going to do? You know that you are no match for me without your supplies!" Gabriel sneered at them, holding Hoshi and Andrew's backpacks in his upraised arm.
"We'll get our supplies back from you!" Andrew exclaimed.
Gabriel shot a Confuse Ray attack toward Andrew.
Andrew ducked back into the tunnel he was standing in front of and got behind a large boulder that was just inside the tunnel.
Gabriel started walking in Andrew's direction.
"I don't think so!" Hoshi exclaimed as she ran across the cavern and grabbed Gabriel's arm to try to distract Gabriel and get their supplies back from him.
"What are you doing?! Get off of me, you little pest!" Gabriel angrily exclaimed, trying to shake Hoshi off his arm.
Andrew wisely decided to stay where he was and watched the battle from the tunnel.
Hoshi had ahold of Gabriel's arm and was trying to knock him off balance.
Gabriel finally managed to shake Hoshi off his arm.
"I know what you are! You're a freak of nature!" Hoshi exclaimed.
Gabriel had a really mad look in his eyes.
Hoshi dodged away from Gabriel and ran across the cavern.
Gabriel fired a Confuse Ray at Hoshi.
"Watch out, Hoshi! That guy's a freak of science!" Andrew yelled from the tunnel.
The attack caught Hoshi off guard and made her jump to the side in surprise. As she landed, she lost her balance and fell over.
The Confuse Ray hit the wall behind where she had been standing.
Gabriel looked at Andrew. "I'll take care of you later!" he exclaimed, pointing in Andrew's direction.
Meanwhile, Hoshi was sitting up after falling over.
"Annoying little brat!" Gabriel exclaimed to Hoshi as he turned back toward her.
While Gabriel's attention was diverted, Andrew ran over to Hoshi. "Are you ok?" Andrew asked Hoshi.
"Get lost, kid!" Gabriel yelled at Andrew.
Hoshi was kneeling on the ground, trying to catch her breath.
Andrew was beside her.
"You two meddling kids have caused me enough trouble! I'm going to teach both of you a lesson!" Gabriel exclaimed. He Glared at first Andrew, and then at Hoshi.
Andrew and Hoshi found themselves paralyzed with fear.
"Oh no!" Andrew cried out in fear.
"Stop.... Glaring at us!" Hoshi exclaimed, getting mad.
Gabriel let out a triumphant laugh in response.
"You won't get away with this!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"Oh, but I already have. Besides, there's nobody around to help you," Gabriel said with a smirk on his face.
"I can't break eye contact!" Andrew exclaimed.
"Neither can I! His powers are just too strong!" Hoshi exclaimed as she and Andrew desperately tried to look away.
"Save your energy. It's useless to struggle against my powers," Gabriel informed Hoshi and Andrew.
Hoshi and Andrew ceased their desperate struggle to escape, for they realized that Gabriel was right. But they refused to give up hope of escaping. They just needed to figure out how.
Gabriel grabbed Hoshi and Andrew by their arms. "Now you're both coming with me!" he continued.
Hoshi and Andrew exchanged glances with each other.
"Where are you taking us to?" Andrew asked.
"You'll see, now shut up!" Gabriel snapped at Andrew.
Hoshi knew that they were defeated. She looked at the cavern wall and awaited her terrible fate.
Andrew just stared at the ground.
"Start walki-" Gabriel began to say.
All of a sudden, a noise interrupted Gabriel.
"What the heck?!" Gabriel shouted.
A Zubat came flying out of the darkness of the cave toward them. When the Zubat saw what was happening, it quickly used Supersonic on Gabriel.
Gabriel clapped his hands over his ears.
The noise distracted Gabriel long enough for Hoshi and Andrew's thoughts to clear. They broke away from Gabriel and grabbed their supplies from his hands.
Gabriel still had his hands over his ears and was shaking his head, trying to block out the Zubat's screeching.
Hoshi and Andrew were covering their ears as well.
Just then, the Zubat stopped screeching.
Everyone uncovered their ears.
"Now it's my turn! Let me handle this fight, Andrew! You go heal your Scyther," Hoshi exclaimed.
"Sure thing, Hoshi!" Andrew replied.
They heard a rumbling noise and then something burst through the cave wall, throwing rock chips and dust everywhere!
Hoshi and Andrew ducked to avoid being hit by the flying rock chips.
An Onix came through the hole in the wall and let out a loud roar.
Hoshi and Andrew flattened themselves against the wall when they saw the Onix.
Gabriel was distracted by the appearance of the Onix.
"Now's our chance! Let's go, Nidoran!" Hoshi yelled, throwing out a pokeball.
Nidoran shot out of its pokeball.
"Ah, a moon pokemon! I think I'll catch it!" Gabriel exclaimed when he saw Nidoran.
"Oh, no you don't! Nidoran is my pokemon and it stays with me!" Hoshi exclaimed.
Gabriel tried to capture Nidoran by throwing a pokeball at it, but Onix screeched and Gabriel lost his concentration. The pokeball missed Nidoran.
The fighting resumed, with Onix and Zubat helping Hoshi and Nidoran to defeat Gabriel.
"Attack, Nidoran!" Hoshi shouted.
The brave little Nidoran charged forward.
Gabriel fired several sand clouds at Zubat but the attacks missed and hit the ceiling. Then he tried to use Confuse Ray on Nidoran but the attack missed.
Andrew ducked behind Onix.
Onix was shielding Andrew from the attack so that Andrew could heal his Scyther.
Andrew brought out his Scyther and began healing it. Five minutes later, Scyther was healed and Andrew recalled Scyther.
Nidoran ran at Gabriel.
Gabriel tried to jump out of Nidoran's way but was a little too slow and got knocked over.
"Come on, Nidoran! You can do it!" Hoshi exclaimed.
Andrew looked on as Hoshi and Nidoran were running around the cave to avoid Gabriel's attacks.
"You may have taken us by surprise last time, but you won't take us by surprise this time!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"Oh, those are bold words coming from one so young!" Gabriel exclaimed.
"Yes, I know I'm young. So what?!" Hoshi exclaimed as she smiled.
"Stop messing with me and stand still!" Gabriel exclaimed with a annoyed look on his face.
"Not so easy to hit a moving object, is it?" Hoshi asked Gabriel. She grinned mischievously as she and Nidoran continued to move around.
Gabriel didn't find Hoshi's remark funny and scowled at her words.
'What are they trying to do? Majorly annoy Gabriel?' Andrew wondered to himself as he watched the fight.
Gabriel was too busy trying to defend himself to use his Quick Attack move.
Nidoran swiped at Gabriel.
Gabriel tried to use his Confuse Ray on Nidoran.
But the determined Nidoran refused to give up. It slowly forced Gabriel to back into a corner during the fight.
Finally, Gabriel had to admit defeat.
Nidoran looked at Gabriel.
"No! How can this be?! Defeated by a little girl and her pokemon!" Gabriel shouted. Then he ran off down the tunnel and vanished around the corner.
"We did it, Nidoran!" Hoshi exclaimed.
Just then, rocks started falling from the ceiling as a result of the fierceness of the battle. The rocks started out small, but soon larger ones began falling.
"Oh no! The ceiling is collapsing! We've got to get out of here, Andrew!" Hoshi yelled, partly from fear and partly to be heard over the sound of the falling rocks.
"I agree, Hoshi!" Andrew yelled for the same reasons, coughing from the dust of the falling rocks.
They started running for the hole that Onix had made earlier. Since Andrew had been closer to the hole, he reached it first.
The dust from the falling rocks got thicker.
Hoshi stumbled and let out a surprised exclamation.
Andrew turned around just in time to see Hoshi stumble on the rocky ground and fall. He started to go back toward Hoshi but the Zubat flew in front of him and urged him to keep on running, for the rocks were still falling.
Onix went back to help Hoshi.
Ten minutes later the rocks had stopped falling but the dust still hung thickly in the air.
Andrew looked at the caved-in tunnel he and Zubat had come through and realized that Hoshi, Nidoran, and Onix didn't make it out of the cavern in time before the tunnel caved-in. Where were Hoshi, Nidoran, and Onix? He turned away from the pile of rocks and saw three figures walking toward them through the dust. 'Could it be....?' he thought to himself.
The dust cleared a little bit and the three figures stepped forward.
Andrew looked at them in surprise.
It was Hoshi, Nidoran, and Onix!
"How did you get out of the cavern?! I thought you were trapped in there!" Andrew exclaimed.
"Onix, Nidoran, and I found another way out of the cavern. I rode on Onix most of the way here because I was tired and needed to catch my breath, while Nidoran followed along side of Onix," Hoshi said wearily.
The Zubat and Onix moved off to one side while Hoshi and Andrew were talking.
Nidoran stood beside Hoshi.
"Weren't you scared to be riding on a wild Onix?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, it was a little scary at the speed that Onix was traveling. But we had to move fast to escape the falling rocks. Then, it took us ten minutes to get here because we had to take the long way," Hoshi replied.
"I'm just relieved that you didn't get trapped in the cave-in," Andrew said.
"So am I," Hoshi said.
The Zubat and Onix approached Hoshi, Andrew, and the Nidoran.
After much difficulty, Nidoran finally got Hoshi and Andrew to understand what Onix and Zubat were saying.
"Thanks for your help in getting away from Gabriel. If you had not shown up when you did, who knows where he would have taken us to," Andrew said.
"No, actually we should thank you for getting rid of him," the Zubat told Nidoran, who then told Hoshi and Andrew what the Zubat had said.
"We usually don't attack humans, but when we saw you attacking him, we knew we had to do something. We had been watching Gabriel to see what he would do because we had a bad feeling about him," the Onix told Nidoran.
"What did you think he would have done?" Andrew asked.
"We were afraid that he might be after the Clefairies' Moon Stone that is hidden here in Mount Moon," the Zubat said.
"You mean the Moon Stone really does exist?" a surprised Hoshi asked.
"Yes, the Moon Stone really does exist," the Onix confirmed to Nidoran.
"If the Moon Stone belongs to the Clefairies, then why were they not here helping to fight Gabriel?" Hoshi asked.
"Because the Clefairies are shy pokemon by nature. They don't like showing themselves to humans. Besides, they were all off watching the passage that led to the Moon Stone to make sure that nobody would find it," the Zubat said.
"It's time to go," Andrew said, looking at the time.
"But where is the exit?" Hoshi asked.
"No problem, we can show you the way out. It's the least we could do to help out," Onix replied.
The Onix and Zubat led Hoshi, Nidoran, and Andrew to the exit of Mount Moon.
"Thanks for everything," Hoshi said.
"Good luck on your journey," Onix replied.
Hoshi recalled Nidoran.
Hoshi and Andrew went on their way.
Gabriel stood watching the two friends to see which way they were going. He was still angry about his loss. "What can possibly be stronger then my dark powers? I still don't know how you managed to beat me Hoshi, but you haven't seen the last of me. I'll be back," he said to himself. Then he walked off and went on his way.
"We finally made it out of Mount Moon!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"It's about time, too!" Andrew exclaimed.
They noticed that night was falling.
"It's getting dark. We'd better set up camp," Hoshi said.
"I agree," Andrew replied.
They set up camp, ate supper, and then fell asleep.
The next day Hoshi and Andrew continued on their way.
"That was rather exciting," Andrew said, referring to the events of yesterday.
"Yes, it was," Hoshi replied.
They continued to chat. Just then, they heard a familiar voice.
"Just where do the two of you think you are going to?" the voice asked from behind Hoshi and Andrew.
'Oh no, they've found us!' Hoshi thought to herself as she and Andrew turned to face their opponents.
To Be Continued