Originally Posted by
AetherX 
On a cliff, high above the road to Mt. Moon, stood a figure, looking out at the sunrise. Next to him perched his loyal partner, a Flygon. The man stroked the dragon’s neck slowly, No need for comma. and noticed a pair of hikers on the road far below. Curious, he turned to his backpack, out of which he pulled a pair of binoculars. He looked through them at the people down below.
“Hmm… Interesting. She’s found a friend.” He smiled. “What do you say we let them take this one Flygon?” Enter.
“Flah….” Enter.
“Okay then, I guess we get to take it easy today.”
After a hurried breakfast, we were on the trail by dawn. Baron hopped along beside us quietly, and of course Criss’ Flareon was out as well. We walked in silence for a little ways. I entertained myself by watching the surrounding scenery change. Being born by the sea, I was not much used to mountains, and Unneeded "and." so I was very interested by the increasingly rocky terrain. Enter.
My wandering gaze came around to rest on Criss. She wore a similar outfit to the day before, relatively tight fitting clothes, a sash around her torso that held her Poke Balls, and a folded blue bandanna with a white symbol on the front serving as a headband. Enter.
“You’ve got four Poke Balls; what other Pokémon do you have?” I asked. Enter.
“Flareon, obviously. And then you saw my Eka -- Arbok.” She smiled to herself but continued: “I told you about my Onix, and I also have a Tentacruel.” Enter.
“So you carry around a Poke Ball for Flareon even though she refuses to use it?” Enter.
“Yes. Just in case.” Enter.
“I’m curious; how come Flareon’s so protective of you?” I asked innocently. Enter.
“She saved my life when I was young,” Criss said. She added quietly, almost as an afterthought to herself, “...and many times since then.” Enter.
I waited, but she didn’t say anything more. I decided to take another stab at friendly conversation: “Where’d you get that headband? I’ve never seen that symbol before.” Enter.
Her face hardened and she tore the bandanna from her head. She stuffed it into one of the side pockets on her pack but didn’t respond.
Okay then, I thought to myself, I guess her past is a little bit of a touchy subject. Enter.
We didn’t talk any more until the trail began to turn back and forth in huge switchbacks as we climbed the mountain. I was beginning to feel a little nervous about what we were going to do, so I asked if Criss had a plan. She paused a second before responding. Enter.
“No, I don’t, not really. All I know is that we need to get in there, find the person in charge, and either kill them or set them up to be arrested. I’ve been given private investigator status by the Pewter City and Cerulean City police departments, so I have some good contacts. Besides that, we’ll mostly wing it.” Enter.
I was shocked. “Kill them?!?!?” TOO MANY PUNCTUATION MARKS. And Enter.
Criss stopped walking and stared into my eyes with that hard look on her face. “Yes, if necessary,” she said coolly. “What did you think we would do?” Enter.
“I don’t know….Paralyze them with electric attacks, I guess. And then drag them back to the police.” Enter.
She raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Do you have any electric Pokémon?” Enter.
I shook my head. Enter.
“Neither do I. And I wouldn’t fancy dragging a couple Rocket grunts for four miles down a mountain.” Enter.
I sighed. “I guess not….” Enter.
Criss’s face softened a little and we kept walking. Enter.
“Ideally, that’s exactly what we would do,” she continued, “but it’s just impractical.” Enter.
“I suppose…. How do we set them up to be arrested then?” I asked. Enter.
“Usually I just tie them up and go fetch the police,” Criss replied, matter-of-factly.
I was skeptical, but apparently she had done this before. She suddenly threw out an arm to stop me. Enter.
“That’s the spot.” Enter.
I looked at where she was pointing, and sure enough, buried in the underbrush was what looked like an old mine shaft in the side of the mountain. We made our way through the bushes until we were at the entrance. Baron landed on my head and stared into the darkness before cooing in a skeptical tone.
“They’ve probably strung some lights farther along. For now, Flareon will light the way.”
The flaming red, No comma needed here. cat-like Pokémon pranced ahead into the darkness, illuminating the cave with an eerie red glow. Criss followed. I recalled Baron went in too, albeit rather reluctantly. Enter.
We didn’t have far to walk. About two minutes in I was about to make a comment on the lack of guards when we rounded a corner and entered a huge, lit, circular chamber. We were about halfway up, ten feet or so. A wire with lights was strung around the whole circumference of the room at about our eye-level. Our ledge tapered off to the left and right and a ladder hung down in front of us. The cavern floor had three or four large boulders and a multitude of metal crates. Several tunnels led off in various directions. We were the only people in the room. Enter.
“Where…?” I started, but Criss put a finger to my lips and I stopped.
She leaned over and whispered into my ear, “Our voices will carry easily through the cavern; we need to be quiet.” Enter.
She silently descended the ladder, looked around, and beckoned to me. I stood next to her, staring at the crates. Enter.
“Where do you think the Rockets are?” I whispered.
She shrugged and gazed at each of the side tunnels. Enter.
Suddenly, we heard a rustle from one of the tunnels to my right, and Criss yanked me down into the shadows behind the nearest boulder. We crouched there, waiting.
And then, with an eerie screeching sound, a small blue and purple bat fluttered out of the tunnel and began to tear away at the light cord with its teeth. Enter.
“Zubat,” Criss muttered. “They must not used to this kind of intrusive light.” Enter.
“HEY!!!” ATTACK OF THE TRIPE EXCLAMATION POINT. And Enter, mate.
We both jumped, and Criss yanked me farther back into the shadows. A man in a dark uniform with a red R emblazoned on the front had run out of one of the tunnels, with a Raticate at his heels. He was yelling at the Zubat. The Raticate began to scratch at the walls and glare up at the Zubat, but it couldn’t reach it. The man picked up a rock and threw it at the bat. It dodged the projectile, screeched again, and flew away. Enter.
The man was cursing under his breath. He stalked back down the tunnel that he had come through. “Damn bats. If we have to stay here any longer, we had better get some Flying-types of our own.”
As his mutterings dwindled away down the tunnel, Criss began to stand, but I pulled her back down. Enter.
“Wait,” I hissed, “I thought I something moving over by those crates.”
Sure enough, a couple seconds later, a small pink head peeked up over one of the metal boxes. The Pokémon clambered on top of the box and stared down the tunnel that the Rocket had taken. Enter.
“Clef?” it said in a high-pitched voice.
I pulled out my Pokedex as Criss and I both stared. At the last second, I remembered to turn down the device’s volume. Enter.
“Clefairy, the fairy Pokémon. The moonlight that it stores in the wings on its back apparently gives it the ability to float in midair. Its adorable behavior and cry make it highly popular. However, this cute Pokémon is rarely found. It becomes easier to spot, for some reason, on the night of a full moon.”
The pink puffball looked around once more and then reached down to the lid of the crate. With a grunt, it pulled the lid off but toppled backwards. I craned my neck to see what was inside. It was a bunch of Moon Stones. The Clefairy got back up and grabbed as many Moon Stones as it could hold before dashing down one of the tunnels.
I looked over at Criss. She seemed to be suppressing laughter. This was strange; I had never seen her laugh before. I raised an eyebrow. Enter.
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly, “I don’t know why I find that so funny. Come on, let’s go.” Enter.
We cautiously made or way down the tunnel that the Rocket had went. Enter.
“You might want to let one of your Pokémon out,” Criss suggested. “Just keep it quiet.”
I released Baron from his Poke Ball again. He landed on my shoulder and cooed in my ear. I looked at him and put my fingers to my lips. It cocked its head sideways in a bemused fashion but didn’t make any more noise. It wasn’t until then that I realized that I hadn’t actually used him before in any major battle. I hoped that wouldn’t matter.
Another room was coming up on the right. We could see the light against the wall. Criss and I crept up to the corner and she peeked around. I could hear voices. She took a quick step to the other side of the doorway so that I could listen, too. Enter.
“So the boss is taking the rest back on this helicopter?” said a rough voice that I recognized as that of the Rocket we had seen earlier. Enter.
“No, he’s leaving the crates that are in the main chamber right now. We’ll carry those down by hand,” said another voice; the other men in the room groaned. “But the real money will be from these fossils that we found. If the technology of fossil revival is really possible, we’ve hit a gold mine.” Enter.
“Figuratively, of course. We’d never get that lucky,” said a skeptical voice that I actually recognized as the Rocket from the previous morning. Enter.
“Quit your complaining. Your paychecks will be considerable if you actually do your job. Now get back to patrolling the tunnels. An infiltration while the boss is still here would be a great reason for him to have us all killed,” commanded the first voice.
Two figures walked out of the room and right past me. I held my breath and tried to blend in with the shadows. I could feel Baron quivering on my shoulder. But it was so dark that they didn’t notice me. I glanced over towards Criss but she wasn’t there. I looked into the room and saw her standing menacingly, facing the third man. He hadn’t noticed her as he was bending over and shoving some boxes onto shelves on the back wall of the room. This cavern wasn’t nearly as big as the first, only about the size of my bedroom. It seemed to be more of a combined office-storage closet. No backslashes, please. The back wall was covered by bookshelves holding stones, books, and fossils. Maps carpeted one wall and the other had a multitude of hooks on which hung ropes, drills, and mining tools.
Flareon, who was at Criss’ side, growled audibly.
The man straightened up and began to turn around. “I thought I told you to….Huh?” But before he could alert the other Rockets, Criss jumped at him and punched him across the face. He was down and out in one hit. Criss turned around to see me standing in the doorway with my mouth gaping. How can an eighteen-year-old girl take out an adult man in one hit? I mean, go for some realism. I'd think it would at least take a metal boot to the groin.
Criss flexed her fingers and gazed at her hand. “Ouch, that hurt,” she said calmly. Enter.
All I could say was, “Holy hell….” Enter.
She smiled at me. “Sorry, I’m not very feminine am I?” I DON'T KNOW. I GUESS PUNCHING A GUY OUT IS NOT VERY FEMININE. I GUESS.
I continued to stare with open-mouthed astonishment while she tied up the man with a rope off of the wall and gagged him with his own hat.
She beckoned me over to the shelves. We looked down at the impressive collection of stones. Enter.
“Do you think that what he said about fossil resurrection is true?” I asked her. Enter.
“It is, I’ve seen it. The technology was developed in a lab on Cinnabar Island,” she replied. “Devon Corp is working to perfect it and make it commercial.” She grabbed one of the fossils that had a swirling shell on it and pocketed it. Enter.
I grabbed a similar one that had a strange dome instead. “Psht, Devon. What do they know?” I scoffed. Enter.
“What’s wrong with Devon?” Enter.
“My brother works for Silph, so I have to dislike Devon on principle,” I explained. Devon Corp was the Hoenn region’s Silph Co. They both were leaders in Pokémon technology development and design. My brother always complained about problems that the competition with Devon made. Enter.
Criss just shook her head and smiled. Before we left the room, she looked down at the Rocket.
“This would be easier if we just cut his throat.” Enter.
The calmness with which she stated this astounded me. I tried to act casually. Enter.
“Nah, let’s just leave him,” I choked out. Enter.
“I guess,” Criss agreed, to my relief. A moral battle raged in my head as we left the room. So far, the “real world” was totally overwriting what I had learned growing up. I would never have chosen to go on a journey if I had known murder would be involved. The thought made me sick to my stomach.
“No more time for espionage,” Criss stated as we walked back down the tunnel. “Let’s go beat those other two in a battle and get out of here.” Why would she care about beating them in battle if she's so flippant about murder? And Enter, cap'n.
I just nodded silently. Baron cooed encouragingly in my ear. Enter.
We walked down the hallway back into the big chamber. Enter.
“Now where are those other --” started Criss, but her unfinished question was immediately answered.
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” came a shout from one of the tunnels. I turned to see the Rocket with his Raticate and the other Rocket with an Ekans. Enter.
“Go! Flareon!” shouted Criss beside me. Her Pokémon dashed forward and tackled the Raticate.
I saw the other Rocket send his Ekans at me. Realizing the urgency of the situation, I shook off my emotional paralysis and responded with a gust from Baron. It did little to the huge purple snake, which just slid back about a foot. Enter.
“Sand Attack, Baron!” Enter.
The blast of sand hit the Ekans in its face and it shook its head, hissing and spitting. I could hear Criss and the other Rocket fighting about ten feet to my left.
“Hyper Fang!” Enter.
“Fire Spin!” Enter.
“Ekans, Poison Sting!” called the Rocket I was facing. Enter.
“Dodge it, Baron!” But I was too late. The poisonous barbs caught the bird full on. It let out a soft cry of surprise, and then fell. “Baron! No!” Enter.
“It’s over, kid; now get out of here before I stop feeling so merciful.” Enter.
But with a strained coo, my Pidgey pushed itself up onto its feet. Pinpricks of blood dotted its light chest. Enter.
“No, wait,” I said. “You’re not strong enough!” I began to get out its pokeball but was stopped when I noticed the glare it was giving me. Then it began to glow. Enter.
“Huh?” exclaimed the Rocket. His Ekans was looking at Baron quizzically.
Then I realized what was happening. Baron began to grow. Before, it had been the size of a large-ish bird. But it swelled to about the size of a dog. Hair-like feathers grew out of the back of its head and it straightened up. The glow faded; it was still glaring at me as if to say, “I have made myself strong enough.” Enter.
I realized that I had no idea what moves a Pidgeotto was capable of. But I didn’t have time to reach for my Pokedex. The Rocket had already reacted.
“Ekans, grab it with a Wrap!” Enter.
“Baron, dodge it!” Enter.
The bird flew into the air and let out a defiant cry at the snake. Enter.
“Use --” I paused. “I don’t know, just get it!” Enter.
The Rocket laughed at this, but stopped when my new Pidgeotto swooped down at his Ekans. The bird grabbed the snake around the middle and slammed it, hissing, into the wall. It fell and hit the ground with a thud. Baron circled and landed next to me. Enter.
“Pidgeote!”
“Nice one!” Space bar here. I exclaimed, recalling my Pokémon. I thought back to when I had met David along Route One. He was a few months older than Tim and I, but we were fairly good friends. His Bulbasaur finished the trio made by my Squirtle and Tim’s soon-to-be Charmander. It was David who had suggested I catch a Pidgey. Enter.
I looked over at Criss to see her locked in hand-to-hand combat with the other Rocket. Her Flareon was chasing the weakened-looking Raticate around the room, launching a constant Flamethrower attack.
I looked back in time to see my foe’s fist collide with my face. I fell over onto my hands and knees, my head buzzing. I saw stars and felt my nose begin to bleed. Enter.
“This isn’t over, you little prick!” sneered the Rocket, looming over me. How intimidating. And Enter.
Without hesitation, I picked up a rock in front of my face, leapt up, and slammed it into the side of his head. He wasn’t ready for the attack, and crumpled to the ground, unconscious at the least.
Wiping the blood away from my nose, I looked over to see Criss curb-stomping the other Rocket, who looked like he had been long since knocked out. Enter.
With one last kick, she turned to her Flareon. Enter.
“Let’s go, Flareon.” Enter.
Her Pokémon seemed to be giving much the same treatment to the Raticate, knocking it about the cavern. Then she Who? looked at me. Enter.
“We can get that fixed up in Cerulean,” she said, gesturing to my nose. “Sorry, I meant to tell you, these guys only use Pokémon at first.” Enter.
“Yeah,” I replied sarcastically, “thanks for the warning. At least they’re stupid.” Enter.
“I just realized, though,” began Criss, “I don’t think we’re done here.” Enter.
“What? You think there’s more?” I think so, dude. And Enter.
“Absolutely. The first Rocket said that the boss was still here, loading a helicopter or something.” Enter.
“The Rocket Boss? I don’t know….What does it matter if he gets away?” My adrenaline was pumping wildly and I was scared out of my mind. This wasn’t the heroic capture I had anticipated. But what, then, had I anticipated? Whatever my motivations for coming with Criss in the first place, I was ready to leave immediately.
“Exactly; it’s the Rocket Boss. Imagine if we could catch him. Let’s go.” Clearly Criss had no qualms. She rushed over to one of the side tunnels and flipped a switch on the wall. Lights turned on down the tunnel. She beckoned to me before dashing out of sight, her Flareon hot on her heels. I heaved a sigh before sprinting to catch up. I doubted I would be able to help much, but it would set my conscience at ease.
She had stopped to wait for me at a fork in the tunnel. It was clear which way to go. One of the paths diminished into some sort of natural, unlit crevice while the lights continued up a set of metal stairs that led to a door. As soon as I caught up to her, Criss leapt up the stairs.
She slowly pushed the door open and stepped outside into the sunlight. I followed, immediately ducking behind a boulder to avoid being seen by the men standing in front of us. Criss did the same.
Break the paragraph here, I think.
I peeked out from behind the rock. We looked to be in Mount Moon’s crater. Two men wearing Team Rocket uniforms were loading what was clearly the last few crates of Moon Stones aboard a large helicopter. Another man stood to the side, watching them with his hands clasped behind his back. The third man was tall, with thinning brown hair and a very imposing demeanor. He wore a slight, almost sadistic grin. This was clearly the famed Rocket Boss. No one knew seemed to know anything about this man beyond the fact that he existed. I was more than a little intimidated, but Criss only seemed to get angrier at the sight of this mysterious figure.
She reached to her belt, pulling out her sheathed knife. The look in her eyes could only be described as bloodlust. I had never seen anyone so angry, and I thought I hated the Rockets.
“Criss, wait --” I started.
But I was ignored. With an inhuman growl she leapt out into the open and dashed towards the tall man. I grabbed at Flareon to stop it from following her out, but it burned me and ran off after its master. She Who? held the knife in her hand, raised as if to stab it through the man’s chest. But with surprising reflexes, the Rocket boss grabbed her by the wrist and twisted it so she would drop the knife.
Paragraph break right here.
But Criss was made of stronger stuff than most people. She held onto the knife despite the man’s maneuver and swung her other arm around to punch him in the side. He let go of her wrist at the blow, but by that time, the other Rockets had started to react. One of them leapt into the helicopter and started up the rotors. The other dove at Criss, tackling her and pinning her to the ground. Flareon caught up to them and latched its jaws onto the Rocket’s leg in some sort of fire-infused bite.
I gave a yell and emerged from my hiding place. The Rocket Boss jumped at my appearance but strode towards the helicopter, ignoring both me and the tussle now taking place on the ground in front of him. The helicopter’s blades were now slicing through the air so fast that they looked like a blur; the sound was deafening. I dashed over to Criss and pulled the Rocket grunt off of her. We began a wrestling match of our own.
Paragraph break.
Now, I’m far from unfit, but I’m not a very big person in the first place. Despite the fire Pokémon still latched to his leg, the Rocket had a definite weight advantage. Within seconds I was pinned to the ground.
Underneath the Rocket’s arm I saw Criss stand on one knee and hurl the knife at the Rocket Boss, who now stood in the helicopter’s bay. The blade buried itself in the tall man’s arm. Criss smiled in satisfaction as the helicopter slowly began to lift off. I guess they didn’t care about the grunt they were leaving behind.
The Rocket Boss grimaced in pain, but removed the knife from his shoulder. Blood poured from his wound, staining his suit. He let the knife fall to the ground. Almost in slow motion, I saw him put a hand into his suit and withdraw a gun.
Paragraph break.
A gun? I was in way over my head (guns are heavily outlawed; possession of one is worth a life sentence in jail. Gun running is one of Team Rocket’s specialties, but even among the organization they are very rare due to the risk in owning one). What had I been thinking? People could die here. Criss could die here. But I wasn’t going to let that happen. With a surge of adrenaline, I hurled the Rocket off of me as the gunshot rang out. I wasn’t going to be able to pull Criss out of the way.
But it seemed my adrenaline did more than I thought. It took me a second to realize what had happened as the helicopter rose into the sky and disappeared over the crater’s edge. I had tossed the Rocket straight into the path of the bullet. He laid on the ground, dead, his black uniform disguising the pattern of blood blossoming on his back.
Criss knelt, oblivious to everything else, staring after the helicopter, the hatred still burning in her eyes. I stood up, shivering, adrenaline still pumping through me. Enter.
“Are you okay?” I asked Criss.
She turned her head to look at me. I expected her to be crying, but her eyes were dry. Shakily, she responded, “No.” Enter.
Without another word she stood up, retrieved her blood-stained knife, and walked back down the stairs, with Flareon by her side, rubbing up against her leg. I followed silently. Enter.
As we walked through the main chamber, I realized that the two Rocket’s probably should be tied up. I pointed this out to Criss, who wordlessly walked over to the grunt that I had felled and put her finger to his throat. I glanced at her victim and saw that he lay in a pool of blood. It was clear that Criss had slit his throat and only had been kicking him out of anger.
Paragraph break.
She was a scary person.
Paragraph break.
I looked back to see Criss climbing the ladder to the exit tunnel. In confusion I went and checked the pulse of the other Rocket myself. There was none. I had directly killed a man. I just turned away, and followed Criss up the ladder. All it took to harden myself against any pity I would have felt for the man was the thought of my father, the image of his burnt carcass.
We climbed steadily back out of the cave. Blinking in the sunlight, we made our way back down the side of the mountain. We stopped at a clearing in the trees to look out at Cerulean City. Enter.
It was quite a bit bigger than Pewter City. There were many buildings, mostly houses, but the Pokemon Center was visible, as was the large Gym. A road led into the mountains on the far side; a huge river with a bridge spanning it flowed past the city on our left; and another road led away into the distance to our right. Enter.
We strolled into the city and stopped at a crossroad. Enter.
“I’m going to go to the Police Station,” said Criss. “You keep going on to the Pokecenter. I’ll meet you there.” It was the first time she had spoken since we had left the crater.
I nodded and looked after her while she went off to the right. She had a past. That much was clear. What it was, I had no idea. Only time would tell. Enter.
Silently, I continued walking down the road. When I reached the center, I turned in my Pokémon to be healed and collapsed on a bed.
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