Zubat live in colonies or groups in dark places such as caves or tunnels. They use

ultrasonic waves as a type of RADAR for finding enemies and navigation in pitch black

darkness." The cloud of Zubat was getting dangerously close. "Zubat are not observed

to be an aggressive type of Pokémon." He said, before Erik closed him and put Dexboy in

his pocket.

"Well," Matt said, "May they officially be recorded as ‘aggressive’. Run!" he

cried. They both turned to where boy—from whom Erik had gotten Flame from—had

gone.

The Zubat were already close, and Matt and Erik were knocked to the ground as

they started to attack. In fact, as Erik and Matt were getting weaker, the Zubat seemed to

be getting more and more hyped.

"Leech Life!" Matt yelled over the sounds of the Zubat. "They drain our energy

to heal themselves!" he stood up defiantly, and several Zubat backed off and hovered,

weary. "Onix! Pidgeot! Go!" he yelled, throwing two Pokéballs up. Pidgeot streamed

upwards from the Pokéball, and Onix formed.

Following his lead, Erik chose his own two Pokémon. "Bulby! Use your Vine

Whip! Oddball! Razor Leaf!" he cried.

"Oddball knows Razor Leaf?!?!" Matt said, surprised. "But…Oddish don’t learn

that attack…"

Erik grinned. "Well, this just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?"

Bulby was knocking out Zubat after Zubat, but there were too many. Soon, Bulby

was so low that Erik was forced to call him back. In fear of the same happening to

Oddball, he called her back as well.

"Onix!" Matt cried and Onix fell, taking out a dozen more Zubat with his bulk.

"Return!" he called, and Onix, transformed back into energy, came back inside the

Pokéball. "Pidgeot! Agility, now!" Pidgeot suddenly became much more agile, and

started to dart in between the Zubat and hit them with a Wing Attack occasionally.

"Whirlwind them away!" Matt ordered. Pidgeot was still for a moment, but before it

could begin to powerfully flap its wings, the Zubat clustered over it, knocking it to the

ground.

"Drat! Return!" Matt called, bring Pidgeot back.

Suddenly, a Pokéball was thrown into the mass of Zubat, accompanied by,

"Mankey! Thrash!"

The Pokéball opened and revealed a ball of fur, about half as tall as Erik, with a

pig nose, long bare tail, hands in fists, and short ears, appeared. Its eyes were narrowed

in rage, and they glowed a red. Moving faster than Pidgeot, and much more agile, it

punched right and left, not to mention behind, and knocked out almost every single Zubat

there. The remaining foes returned to the caves.

A boy, a little younger than Erik, appeared. He had short, dirty blond hair, but it

still fell in his eyes. He brushed it aside as he ran up to Mankey, jumped to give it a high

five, and fell as it punched him, not completely recovered from its attack. Before the boy

recalled it, Erik managed to get out Dexboy.

"Mankey." Dexboy said. Erik wished once again that his voice sounded a little

less mechanical. "It does not take much to get this Fighting Type Pokémon angry. It

may be calm one minute, then thrashing about the next." Erik grimaced at the bad pun.

"Known for superb footwork, Mankey packs a very powerful punch. It can easily avoid

special techniques because it is quicker and more agile than most Pokémon."

Erik reached a hand down, and helped up the boy, who was rubbing his face

where Mankey’s fist had landed.

"Hi!" he said. "Saw you in a bit of trouble there, thought I’d lend a hand. I’m

Josh." He said, extending his hand.

"Hi." Erik said. "I’m Erik, this is Matt." He said, shaking Josh’s hand.

"Uh, you wouldn’t happen to know why those Zubat attacked, would you?" Josh

asked.

"No." Erik said. "But I heard that they’re not supposed to be aggressive."

"Well, that’s why I wanted to know. You on your way to Cerulean?" he asked.

Erik remembered about Cerulean City from the handbook. After you traveled

through Mt. Moon, you ended up on the route to Cerulean City, a town with a Pokémon

Gym. It was said that the gym leader favored Water Type Pokémon. Erik, again, would

have it easy, because Grass Type was strong against Water. And Water was strong

against Rock. Bad news for Matt, again.

"Yeah." He said. "After we find…something…in Mt. Moon." Erik smiled.

"Cool!" Josh said. "I live there! Well, I used to, until I moved on to train." He

said. "Here, I’ll show you the way." He offered, and without a word led them towards

Mt. Moon.

Erik looked at Matt, but he just shrugged. They followed Josh.

After they were inside, Erik noticed that it really wasn’t too dark. Tiny suddenly

jumped down from his shoulder, just as Josh was starting to talk about his other

Pokémon. Erik didn’t catch the rest of what he said; he was chasing after Tiny. Tiny

stopped over a spot and started to dig. Erik helped her, since after a moment, she hadn’t

gone very far.

"Jig! Jiggily, jig! Puff! Jig-ily-puff!" she yelled. Erik came across a small, round

disk. Something was engraved in it, but he dug around it. Jigglypuff said something

about it being the Air Disk. Erik simply didn’t care. He put it aside and dug on, until he

found what he was looking for. A piece of green metal, part of a symbol engraved. Erik

heard something like Zubat in the distance, but he dismissed it as just something he

imagined. Placing the "Air Disk" back, and covering it, Josh and Matt finally arrived.

"Hey." Josh said. ‘Why’d ya do that?" he asked.

"I’ll show you." Erik said. Placing the piece next to the others, the fourth clue

was found. A bright flash of light filled it into place, but it seemed to be slightly longer,

as if the more clues he found, the stronger the power generating the flash was.

"Whoa!" Josh said, then looked at Erik. "I heard about you. Someone said that a

guy would do just what you did. Jeez, I didn’t believe him." He was amazed. "’You

have come very far on your way. Complete the circle and learn the plays.’ Was

something the guy said. Said something about it bein’ the fourth line or something." He

was interrupted, but Erik was glad he wasn’t afraid of him. He seemed like a good

friend.

"Hey!" someone’s voice cried. "Does your Jigglypuff know Flash?" A girl

asked, running into view. Erik didn’t notice, but Matt’s smile dropped and his mouth

opened as he saw the girl.

She was dressed in a red shirt, blue jeans, and had on a black backpack She had

fiery red hair, long, and a pleasant complexion. She was looking at Erik, but she stopped

dead, her own smile dropping as she glanced at Matt.

At the same time, in unison, they both shouted, "You!"

Erik and Josh exchanged glances. Something told them to stay out of this one,

and they both moved towards the cave wall.

A shouting match ensued between Matt and the girl, whom Matt finally addressed

as Rachel.

Before she could retort, Erik heard an all too familiar noise.

"Hold it!" Erik said, playing on what he had heard between the two. "This little

lover’s spat can be dealt with later! Right now, we’ve got—"

He was interrupted as another cloud of Zubat appeared.

"Jeez, they could at least wait until you finish the introduction!" Josh said. "Let’s

split!" he said, running down the tunnel.

Erik took off too. He didn’t notice Matt grabbing Rachel’s wrist.

Together, Erik, Josh, and Matt, pulling Rachel along, ran a top speed down the

tunnel. Unfortunately, the Zubat were gaining. Suddenly, Josh took the lead in a burst

of speed, taking a quick right down a different tunnel. Erik and Matt followed, Rachel

still being pulled along. The Zubat were confusing each other, their echolocation causing

a lot "pictures" to be "seen." All the different angles of reflection of the high pitched

sounds made the Zubat unable to "see" clearly. In short, Erik decided, the group lost the

Zubat.

Puffing, Erik and company rested. After a moment, Erik stood back up. "We

gotta reach Cerulean." He said, not adding that they had better hurry before the Zubat

found out they had been lost.

Reluctantly, the group got up and joined him. They walked in silence for a

moment, until they reached a fork.

"Which way?" Erik asked, more to himself than to anyone else. He was too tired

from tried to escape from insane Zubat to bother getting out a map.

"I don’t know." Josh said. "I got mixed up when we ran." He admitted

sheepishly.

"I’ve only been through here once." Matt said. Rachel remained silent, glaring at

Matt. "Will you stop doing that?"

Erik simply sighed as Matt and Rachel started in another argument. Reaching

into his pack, he pulled out his handbook.

"That your handbook?" Rachel said, gesturing towards his handbook.

"Yeah." Erik said. This was the first time she had spoken to anyone besides Matt.

"It’s old as everything." She said, reaching into her pack. "Here." She said,

handing him a book.

He looked at it. It was called The Official Pokémon Handbook by Maria S.

Barbo. There were three Pokémon on the front, ringed by a lot of different kinds of

Pokémon. Among them, he knew Bulbasaur, Golem, Caterpie, and Eevee. Flipping

through it, Erik noticed that it had pages of text, as well as information on all of the

known Pokémon.

"Thanks." He said. He didn’t know what else to say.

"Keep it." She said, looking at Matt out of the side of her eyes.

Erik did not like this, the way she seemed to be trying to make Matt jealous. It

would do nothing but drive him and Matt apart. At least, Erik thought, this proves that

she still likes him.

As for Matt, he appeared not to notice. He was in a conversation with Josh about

Mankey, how he fed it, trained it, etc. But Erik noticed that he was giving quick, sad

glances at them. Josh never noticed through his excitement about Mankey.

That set Erik thinking happier thoughts. Josh really seemed to love Mankey. He

mentally laughed, thinking how he would have called them "Mankies" earlier in the day.

Erik looked at a detailed map of Mt. Moon. Finding where they were, he led on.

It turned out that they had unwittingly taken a shortcut that would lead them to Cerulean

at least by the end of the day.

<><><>

Erik, Josh, Matt, and Rachel walked, exhausted, into the Cerulean City Pokémon

Center. After they had all showered and gotten rooms, Erik lay down on his bed. It was

a bit unfair, he decided, that Rachel got a room to herself while she made the boys share a

room between the three of them.

Trying, once again, to think of different things, Erik got out the handbook Rachel

had given him, flipping to the section on the Pokémon.

"Bulbasaur is a strong, manageable Pokémon for beginning trainers. No one’s

sure whether Bulbasaur and its evolutions are plant or animal. They seem to have the

characteristics of both. A strange bulb was planted on Bulbasaur’s back at birth. As

Bulbasaur grows, the bulb becomes a large leafy plant. Bulbasaur is in better shape than

other beginning Pokémon like Charmander or Squirtle—which makes it harder to

capture." was the detailed section of the part on Bulbusaur.

Erik’s mind, inevitable, wandered, and he found himself thinking of a subject he

had unconsciously avoided for a while; Laury. He was amazed—and distressed—to find

that he could still recall everything about their brief meeting. Her chin length, dark

brown hair, like his, although his wasn’t as long; his bangs were where they had always

been cut—his eyebrows. Her sparkling blue eyes, alive with life. And, sadly, Erik also

recalled her strange disappearance. Fading away, almost as if she was transformed into

the strange, blue mist.

Matt cut off the lights, Josh snoring quietly, and Erik’s book lying by his pack.

Erik eyes were closed, trying to envision more vividly Laury’s disappearance.

Erik suddenly recalled how the mist had gone. It hadn’t faded into nothingness,

or even dissipated into the air. The way the tiny little wisps of it had seemed to glow,

barley noticeable because they glowed only a brighter shade of that electric blue, not any

white or other color. It was almost as if they had been teleporting somewhere, like the

Abra he had read about did, since it couldn’t fight very well.

Yes, Erik thought to himself, losing any coherent thought as he drifted off to

sleep. Teleporting somewhere…

<><><>

Erik eyes snapped open, his mind racing. What if that was it? What if Laury

hadn’t really died, or something? What if she had had actually been moved somewhere,

by some force unseen?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He heard Josh jerk awake,

and Matt groan. Nurse Joy poked her head inside and turned on the lights. She was

greeted with protests and groans. "Time to wake up!" she said cheerfully. "Oh, come,

come, boys. It’s nearly nine o’clock! I don’t usually let trainers sleep this late, but," she

paused, turning a slight shade of red. "but, my alarm didn’t go off, and the Chansey

who were on the night shift forgot and kept working. Either way, UP!" she said, ranting

about something else as she walked off.

"Nine o’clock?" Erik echoed. "I thought I just got to bed!"

"No way." Matt said. "I cut the lights at ten-forty. I call shower!" he yelled, then

grabbed his pack and jumped into the room without further ado.

"How ya doing, Erik?" Josh said, yawning as he stumbled over to his pack.

"Not sure." Erik frowned at the shower being turned on. "I feel like I just

blinked."

"Yeah, that happened to me once. Say, what type do you train?" Josh asked.

Erik was confused. "What?"

"I said, what type Pokémon do you train? A lot of trainers only train one type or

another. Like, Fighting types, Water, Fire. Others, like me, have an all round team.

What about you?" he explained.

"Oh." Erik hadn’t really thought about it. "I guess I’m an all round trainer, but if

I had to, I guess I would pick the Grass type to train." He brightened at the thought. "I

mean, I’ve looked them up, and I want to get all the grass types. They’d be really

strong!"

"Yeah." Josh agreed. "Especially if they were strong enough to withstand a Fire

type Pokémon."

Erik noticed the shower being turned off. "I call next!"

<><><>

By the time Erik got out of the shower, Rachel had gotten into their room. Erik

was relieved to find Matt and Rachel had made up their little "dispute" and were

obviously back to liking one another. Good for Matt. One less problem for Erik to worry

about. Josh took a quickie shower and they were off, after picking up their Pokémon

from Nurse Joy.

Erik thought about it for a moment, and then decided to mark his Pokéballs so that

he could tell his Pokémon apart. He let all of his Pokémon out as he walked down the

road, setting the miniature balls on his belt so that they were arranged from the strongest

to weakest; Bulby, Oddball, Buttergirl, Flame, Tiny.

Matt asked what he was doing, and Erik told him. Matt liked the idea, and started

to mark his own Pokéballs.

Erik borrowed some paint pens from Rachel, who seemed to have just about

anything a person could want, and started on Bulby’s Pokéball as soon as they sat down

in a café to eat breakfast. Carefully, Erik outlined a elegant B, over which was a smaller

EM, in green. After a moment’s thought, Erik carefully drew a complex arrangement of

vines and leaves all over the Pokéball. Two big ones came from a bulb drawn at the very

top of the Pokéball.

Oddball was next, and Erik followed a similar pattern, drawing a green O instead

of a B, and covered the Pokéball in leaves.

Buttergirl got a BG and butterflies with flowers.

Next in line was Flame. Erik was about to put a big, red F on it, when he realized

that that might give the wrong idea. Instead, he wrote, in a bit smaller letters, her entire

name. All he needed to do was draw a single flame.

Lastly, there was Tiny. Erik drew a very small T in gold and decorated the ball

with large eyes to match Tiny’s. Erik sat back as he finished the set.

Matt had drawn a intricate set of lines on all of his Pokéballs’ top halves, like

Erik. Interweaved into each above the emitter, but clear, were the names of all his

Pokémon.

They ate, and Erik thought about something that had been nagging him.

"Say, Josh…" Erik began.

"Yeah?" Josh replied through a mouthful of pancakes.

"You’ve been a pretty good help to us, and we would have been creamed by those

Zubat if you hadn’t helped. I was wondering, if it’s alright with Rachel and Matt—that

is, if Rachel is going to keep on journeying with us—if you would like to join us?" Erik

glanced as Rachel and Matt.

"Sure." Matt said.

"Fine with me." Rachel replied.

Erik looked at Josh.

"Sure!" he said. "I’d love to!"

Suddenly, they heard a scream. Jumping up, the newly formed group headed

outside. People were fleeing everywhere, running or driving wildly.

"What happened?" Erik shouted at a passing man. He stopped to catch his breath.

There was fear in his eyes.

"Zubat!" the man said. "A whole cloud of them is invading the city! I’ve never

seen anything like it! They’re not supposed to be aggressive!" he said. "Look!" he

pointed back from where he had come from. "That’s them!"

"Where?" Erik asked. His stomach suddenly dropped as he realized what the man

was pointing to: the direction where the entire sky, a large portion too, was completely,

midnight black.

Suddenly, a voice came over the city-wide PA. "Attention all Pokémon Trainers!

If you have any Pokémon good against Flying or Poison Types, report to the Zubat cloud

immediately for assistance!!" came the voice of Officer Jenny. She didn’t have to tell the

trainers where the cloud was.

Without word, the group ran top speed against the flow of the crowd. When they

arrived at the scene, they saw several Pokémon fighting the cloud of Zubat, unbelievably

huge. The other Pokémon were soon beaten, and the trainers recalled them and fled.

"Alright guys!" Erik yelled, trying to be heard. "All out attack! Everything you

got!"

They all nodded and pulled out Pokéballs.

"Bulby, Oddball, Buttergirl, Flame, Tiny, attack!" Erik yelled, throwing all the

newly decorated Pokéballs.

As they emerged, Matt threw his own. "Pidgeot! Onix! Beedrill! Kangaskahn!

Let’s ride!"

"Growlithe, Charmander, Ponyta, Vulpix! Group attack!" Rachel yelled,

revealing her complement of Fire Pokémon.

"Now, my turn!" Josh called. "Mankey, Jolteon, Growlithe, Psyduck, Hitmonlee,

Hitmonchan, show them what we’re made of!" he cried. He was obviously proud of

being the trainer with the most Pokémon.

"Impressive." Rachel said.

"Should be. I started last year, and they’ve never been trained better." Josh

replied.

Suddenly, a girl ran up beside them. Not bothering to introduce herself, she

tossed three Pokéballs. "Kadabra! Butterfree! Venonat! Psybeam!" As all three of the

strange Pokémon started to be surrounded by a blue aurora, she turned to Josh. "Call off

your Fighting Types! They’re weak against Flying and Poision, exactly like Zubat!" she

yelled at him

Reluctantly, Josh recalled them; Mankey, Hitmonlee, and Hitmonchan. "The rest

can take ‘em!" he said.

Suddenly, the three Pokémon the girl had tossed out shot bright blue beams of

energy. They flew straight through the dense cloud of Zubat, knocking everything they

hit to the ground.

The battle raged, but the Zubat simply had numbers. Everyone’s Pokémon fought

their hardest, but in the end, the odds were too great. One by one, the Pokémon had to be

recalled. The could passed them, moving on towards Cerulean. Erik fell to his knees,

while everyone else slumped down, defeated. Erik lowered his head in shame, but not

before looking at the blotch of darkness against the sky. Suddenly, the Zubat turned, and

headed for him.

He stood up, the other sprinting.

"Come on Erik!" Matt yelled.

It’s you, a voice, fluid, soothingly, said in his head. It was so familiar… Use it.

"Wha…What?" Erik said, more to himself.

"Come on!" Matt started to go back, but Rachel and Josh held him back, forcing

him to run the other way. Finally, he broke away, and started to run back, but stopped a

dozen yards away. The others joined him.

"Erik!" Matt practically screamed. "We gotta go!"

"Go on." Erik said. "It’s me they want. I don’t know how, but I know they want

me."

There was so much conviction in his voice that Matt didn’t argue.

Use it. It will save you. The voice said in his head. Why was it so familiar?

"Use what?" Erik asked, too softly for the others to hear. He was transfixed by

the cloud growing closer by the second.

There was a silence. Erik thought he knew the voice, he almost had it…

It slipped through his fingers as he heard the next voice, the same voice. You are

the Grass Master. It said. And then he grasped it. And he knew who it was.

His chest was burning, so he pulled at his shirt to try and cool off. He gasped as

his hand grabbed something red-hot, yet cool.

Erik pulled out a medallion glowing more white than green. He was the Grass

Master… But he wasn’t. He was no hero. How could he find something that had been

lost forever? Erik dropped the medallion to his shirt. It grew brighter and brighter until

he had to shield his eyes. Squinting, he felt a kick blow him back, and he landed on his

back in front of his friends, mud splattering from a fresh rain. Looking up, he saw a huge

beam of intense green-white firing towards the Zubat.

As the beam grew closer to the Zubat, it expanded wider and wider until it was a

wall.

And then that wall struck the Zubat.

Thousands of cries were heard as the Zubat struck a wall of pure Grass energy.

Erik’s eyes were huge as he saw what the medallion had done. It had stopped glowing,

and he put it back in his shirt.

"What the crap was that?!" Rachel and the new girl shouted in unison.

"I wish I knew." Erik said, and his voice prompted no further comments.