Many, many bats.

You all finish your delightful breakfast, doing your best to wipe yourselves clean of sticky syrup once you’re done. You and Kayla once again compliment Daniel on the wonderful meal, the easiest way to get the relatively unflappable blonde flapped. He blushes and mumbles thanks as you all start to clean up, making sure to account for everything as you repack and get ready to start off on what should be your final day in Mt. Moon. You all change your clothes as well, all choosing jeans for pants today. For shirts, yours is a simple light gray tee, the blonde’s is a tight orange muscle-shirt, and the brunette’s is a pink tee with a bunch of Jigglypuff on. Once you’ve all put your same jackets back on, it’s time to head out.

As you walk, checking your map to make sure you’re on the right track, you hear a sound that you’ve all heard many times since entering this cave; the chittering of a swarm of Zubat approaching. “FUCKING. BATS.” Daniel barks as the cloud of blue and purple Pokémon rush towards you all. The three of you all grip one of your Pokéballs, prepared to deal with yet another barrage of bats.

“Pikachu, I choose you!” “Let’s go, Pikachu!” “Electabuzz, c’mon out!”

All three of your electric types take to the field, all very familiar with the situation that they’ve found themselves in. Their super-effective electric attacks have made them favorite picks for dealing with these swarms as you’ve been traversing the interior of this mountain, so they’re all quite adept at dealing with the poison and flying types at this point. As the horde closes in, all three of you give the command to “Use Thundershock!” and bolts of yellow lightning start to fly out in all directions, striking down bats wherever they land.

This goes on for fifteen minutes, your trio of yellow Pokémon repeatedly zapping anything that flies too close. It feels like this group is taking longer to clear out than usual however, and you’re starting to feel like you may need to switch Pokémon. This is a lot of bats! They just keep flying in, more and more of them, without an end in sight. Occasionally a few break through, latching onto your Pokémon and draining them of their health before being brushed aside. The electric types may not be able to handle this all on their own after all.

As you’re considering switching to another partner, you hear Kayla shout “Look at that!” As you and your blonde friend direct your attention to what the girl is pointing at, you can easily see exactly what it is that has her worked up. Flying in with the next - and largest yet - flock of wild Pokémon is a much bigger bat, with longer wings, small eyes, flat feet on short legs, and a massive open mouth with four fangs. A Golbat! It must be directing these Zubat, that’s why so many more of them have joined together!

“Oh fucking great. A big bat now.” Daniel rolls his eyes. “Electabuzz, keep zapping the bastards!” The golden-haired young man’s starter complies, though all three of your electric types are starting to tire after constantly outputting voltage for so long. It gets to a point where you all realize that you have to call it, and decide to switch Pokémon. Recalling your electric types, you all send out whatever else is best next.

“Aerodactyl, I need you!” “Gyarados, please!” “Drowzee, get ‘em!”

The new trio of combatants make their appearance, and start taking commands instantly. “Use Roar!” You shout, and your Fossil Pokémon shrieks out a high-pitched cry, causing nearly a dozen Zubat to turn tail and flee.

“Gyarados, move up front! Grab their attention, and just Bite as many as possible!” Kayla orders her partner, who floats out in front of everyone, acting as a shield and chomping down on any bat unfortunate enough to get too close to its toothy maw.

“Drowzee, Confusion on the big one!” Daniel commands his psychic type, who stays in the back and begins channeling its mental powers in an attempt to attack the evolved bat Pokémon. This proves to be difficult however, as the Golbat flits about constantly, not staying still nearly long enough for the brown and yellow Pokémon to lock in on it. Smaller Zubat harass the Vermillion boy’s Pokémon as well, making it difficult for it to concentrate.

The larger bat screeches, waves of Supersonic energy filling the room. You all cover your ears, wincing in pain at the piercing sound. Aerodactyl and Drowzee shake it off, the former starting to use Bite of its own volition and the latter continuing to attempt Confusion on the Golbat. Gyarados doesn’t fare quite as well however; it shrieks in agony and its body tenses as the sound drills into its brain.

“Shit!” Suddenly, the buff blonde tackles both you and his ****, sending all three of you slamming into the stony floor of the cavern together. For a brief moment you wonder why the hell he’s done that, but you see exactly why half of a second later. The sea serpent begins thrashing about in distress, and its muscular tail swings right over your heads, causing the air to whoosh as it goes by. If Daniel hadn’t knocked you all down, that tail would’ve slammed into you all for sure. There’s no telling just how badly that would have hurt.

“Thanks man!” You shout over the chaos.

“No problem! We have to deal with this-“ As the blonde is responding, Gyarados spasms again, its tail slapping down onto the ground a few inches from your face. “Shit! Kayla, call it back!”

“Return, Gyarados!” The brunette holds out the water type’s Pokéball, managing to recall it in a flash of red light. “Sorry about that!”

“Not your fault! Or Gyarados’! We need to deal with that big ass bat!” Her master shouts. “Kayla, have Weepinbell put as many to sleep as possible, okay? Red, the Zubat are pretty thinned out. Can you have Aerodactyl focus on the big one? If it slows down a little, Drowzee should be able to knock it out!”

You nod, the three of you getting back to your feet. “Got it! Aerodactyl, go for the Golbat, ignore the little ones!” Your rock and flying type screams an acknowledgment, pivoting in the air and streaking towards the evolved Pokémon. Your partner turns out to be significantly faster than even the powerful Golbat, colliding with it midair without giving it a chance to dodge.

“Go, Weepinbell!” The green-eyed girl unleashes her grass type. “Sleep Powder as many Zubat as you can!” Immediately, the plant Pokémon begins coughing up cloud after cloud of green spores into the air in the direction of various cluster’s of blue and purple bats. A couple dozen of them slowly fall to the ground, thinning their numbers even further.

“Now, Drowzee!” Daniel shouts, and his partner launches an **** of psychic energy into the wild Pokémon’s mind. This, combined with your ancient Pokémon’s fangs sinking into it, is enough to stop the Golbat in its tracks, and it goes limp in Aerodactyl’s grasp. “Yes! Nice teamwork!” The three of you share a triple high-five, congratulating yourselves on a job well done. The Vermillion pair each pet their respective Pokémon, and yours flaps down and lands in front of you, bat still in its maw. The remaining Zubat are scattering now that their leader has been defeated, and you can all finally take a breath.

Reaching out, you stroke the Fossil Pokémon’s muzzle, and say “Great work girl. Really proud of you.” The frankly terrifying Pokémon humphs, letting the Golbat fall out of its mouth and onto the ground. She shakes out of your petting, flying back up into the air and clinging to part of the rock wall. Between her and Charmeleon, you’re beginning to feel like your Pokémon don’t want cuddles anymore. Aww…

After thanking your partners, all three of you return them to their balls, then stare down at the **** bat on the floor. The words that come out of Daniel’s mouth next shock both you and Kayla. “You guys mind if I catch it?”

You stare at the blonde, utterly stunned. “You want a bat!?”

“Are you feeling okay, Daniel?” The green-eyed girl lays a hand on her lover’s arm, looking up at him in concern. “Did the Supersonic hurt your head that badly?”

“Oh haha, very funny. Yeah, I wanna bring it along. Seemed pretty tough, and I could use a flying type. Besides, in order to defeat your enemy, you must understand them… Or something, I dunno.” The golden-haired boy says with a lopsided grin. Neither you or Kayla have any objections nor plans to catch it yourselves, so you let him do it. “Great! Mine now, big bat.” The blonde taps a ball against the fainted Pokémon’s head, catching it with ease.

You all sit down for a quick break after that intense battle, eating an early lunch of dried foods. Not every meal can be as well made as Daniel would like, but you’ll all be back in civilization before too much longer. As you rest and eat, you and Kayla check a couple of more times to make sure that the muscular young man is feeling like himself. He sighs good-naturedly at all your teasing, assuring you that he feels fine and that nothing is wrong with him, though the two of you still act skeptical.

After half an hour of this, you all feel rested enough to continue on your way through the cave. As you near the end, the glowing crystals that have been lining the walls the whole time grow smaller, though your flashlights make it so that visibility is not a huge issue. The air starts to warm up again, and you’re sweating a bit while wearing your jacket now. The third day of your trek goes on, and it’s definitely starting to wear you down a bit. Constant soreness and sweating, having not really been able to properly bathe in a couple days, so many damn bats… This is tiring.

A few hours later, when you’re certain that you’re nearly at the end of this cave, with only eastern Route 4 standing between you and Cerulean City, a sound pierces through the still cavern air. A sound that you are unfortunately familiar with, as you had heard a very similar one on Route 3 just a few days ago. The shriek of a woman in great distress, echoing throughout the stony tunnel.

“NO! STOP IT, YOU CAN’T!”