Rock Hard - Chapter 3 - Mt Moon (Patreon)

“Thank you for your assistance ladies! With your help we were able to close down the illegal pokemon ring!” declared a rather dusty-looking Officer Jenny as she offered the girls a salute.

The girls blinked up at her. In their hands, the card game they’d been playing was forgotten in lieu of the exchange.

“A-are we free to keep going through the tunnels now?” Yolanda asked hopefully.

“We’d prefer most people go above ground to be perfectly honest with you,” admitted Officer Jenny. “There’s chances of contaminating the crime scene, you see.”

“... but if we stay away from those tunnels, there shouldn’t be an issue,” pointed out Crystal as Greta slowly nodded. 

“Yeah, we’ve been over Mt Moon a ton of times. It’s really pretty, but we want to explore a little, you know?” Greta added while Yolanda smiled winningly.

Officer Jenny coughed. “Well, I suppose technically—”

“Thanks!” cut in Crystal as she slammed a pair of twos on the table. “Read em and weep girls!” she crowed while the other two sighed and handed over the poffins they were playing for. 

Terra and Venusaur gave out little cries of sadness as the pile was dragged into Crystal’s pouch.  Cyndaquil giggled and flared up in celebration, and Jenny stared at them.

“REally, a pair of twos?” Jenny asked in exasperation only to flush red as the girls blinked in surprise. “That is to say! Gambling is bad!” 

The girls continued to stare at her and she coughed.

“Well, I can’t write you up as you weren’t playing for money, but don’t get into the habit of gambling girls! It’s a slippery slope!”

The girls turned and gave her a look. “But… pokemon battles?” pointed out Yolanda.

Officer Jenny spluttered and pointed them towards the tunnels. “Get moving before I second-guess myself!”

“More than you alre—” Crystal started to say, only for Greta to wrap an arm around her and drag her off.

“Bye Officer Jenny! Thanks for taking out the criminals!” she called as they hurried back into the tunnels.

“You just have to push, don’t you?” Yolanda muttered with a shake of her head as Crystal ducked her head.

“Sorry, can’t help it,” she replied.

“Hmmm, I’m sure” muttered Yolanda thoughtfully as they reentered the caverns and returned to marching along. 

This time, they were all much more watchful of their feet while keeping their heads low to avoid any flapping zubat that were starting to wake up for the evening fly. It might have also helped that Venusaur was being louder in announcing himself as he shuffled along. More often than not a few zubat would perk up only to curl into themselves when their ears twitched towards Venusaur.

“Should we have waited another day?” asked Greta thoughtfully as they passed by several tunnels that were roped off with police tape, announcing they were crime scenes.

“We’re fine. If we have to, we’ve got the pokemon to handle a swarm as well as the lanyards,” Yolanda replied firmly. “Think of it this way, we’re going to have to really push the parcel into the unknown with how far we’re travelling now.”

Greta and Crystal nodded at this with Crystal pausing to inspect several strange rock formations only to present them to Yolanda, who shook her head. “Just some quartz,” she said most times.

“When do you think we should pull back?” Crystal asked after an hour’s trek into the tunnels.

“There’s supposed to be an underwater grotto that has some interesting rock formations that hikers have made up over the years!” Yolanda replied. “I really want to see that at least!”

The girls trekked along nd when they came to a crossroads in the tunnels, they paused to inspect the symbols.

“Sooo, avoid the skull and crossbones I take it?” Crystal snarked, indicating a tunnel that had multiple warning signs slapped over it. “Why is it so dangerous?” 

“Probably Golbats are down that way and most of the trainers coming through here aren’t ready for the uptick in strength an evolved pokemon can bring forth,” Yolanda stated as she eyed a tunnel with a small flower upon it.

“I think this is the Paras grove, or where they should have been. If I was going to bet anything I’d say that the grove is actually what those criminals would have drawn on.”

“But they couldn’t have taken too many at a time or it would have been super obvious,” pointed out Greta. “There’s also the chance that this tunnel is haunted by a ghost or two which can make it more dicey.”

“True,” Yolanda tilted her head but still turned to the third and final tunnel that Greta was standing in front of. “I say we go this way.”

Greta nodded while Crystal sighed in relief, glad to avoid the obvious danger tunnel. The trio once more set off only for a rumbling to have Terra out and in front of everyone while Venusaur turned and took up a rear guard position, Gastly appeared next to Greta.

“Cave in?” cried Greta fearfully as Venusaur prepared to knock rocks away only for a roar to cause them to look ahead and find an Onix moving towards them.

“Onix! Stop!” Yolanda roared back.

Rather than stopping, the Onix plowed straight at them, and Yolanda flicked her hand to Terra. “Terra! Take it low!” Yolanda called.

Causing Terra to explode forward in a propelled blast of air from the jets upon her back. She slammed into Onix and sent the larger pokemon reeling. 

“Onix! Your aggression isn’t warranted. We are not your enemies!”

Onix growled back at her, narrowing its eyes but shifting so it was aware of Terra to the side.

“Onix, what had you running like that?” Yolanda asked. “A pokemon as strong as you shouldn’t need to run from anything? Nor would you hunt along the tunnels like this.” 

“Oooooooon!” cried the pokemon mournfully.

“Hmmm, you’re not doing this randomly, are you?” Yolanda asked, causing the other two girls to tilt their heads.

“So, for the rest of the class that doesn’t speak rock snake, what are you and Onix talking about?” Crystal asked. Greta shushed her, her pokedex out and recording the interaction.

Rather than tell them, Yolanda enlarged a pokeball.

“Hey, wait, are you going to—” Greta started to ask only for Yolanda to whip the ball forward.

Rather than collapsing into a ball of red light, the pokeball hit and made a sharp blarting noise. 

Yolanda nodded rather than recoiling at the annoying tone. “You’re someone’s pokemon, aren’t you?”

“Ooooon!” groaned the Onix sadly.

Greta blinked. “that… If it’s a person’s pokemon, why is it rampaging through the tunnels?” she began checking behind her and touching the walls, her Gastly diving in and out only to shake its head a few moments later.

At this, Onix moaned something else. “Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiix!”

Yolanda nodded. “Oh, you lost your trainer? Guess that’s why you haven’t been looked after too well. You’ve got some old injuries, come here and let me treat you a little Onix,” Yolanda offered. 

As Onix approached carefully, Yolanda made sure to move slowly while keeping her voice down low and calm. “So what happened to you?”

“Oooon!”

“You got separated? That’s sad. What separated you?”

“Oooooooooooo!” roared the Onix in an angry manner.

“Uhuh, yeah. That would do it. And then?”

“Ooooninx!” 

Crystal and Greta shared a look behind Yolanda’s back as she nodded and the conversation continued for a while.

Yolanda turned. “He’s lost his trainer due to a pair of bad guys beating him up and knocking him out. His trainer ran before he got taken out however and now he’s trying to find him again!”

Greta nodded slowly while Crystal sighed and shook her head. “So, what you’re really telling me is that Onix is an idiot!”

The group fell silent at this proclamation, and due to the nature of the tunnels Crystals words echoed, causing the last few words to reverberate. 

“Onix is an idiot!” “Onix is an idiot!” “Onix is an idiot!” “Onix is an idiot!”

Onix growled at her, and in response Crystal drew out Mankey. “Yeah, don’t try it. I know Terra smacked you good earlier and I have no issues setting my Mankey on you to knock you out again!”

“Oooo,” rumbled the Onix as it drew itself back in while still giving the bluenette an evil eye.

Mankey cheerfully raised a fist. “Key?” he asked, and Crystal waved him off.

“Nah, he’s just being dumb. His trainer left him, and he’s grovelling back. You don’t deserve that sort of treatment Onix!” Crystal stalked forward and planted her feet. “Onix, it gives me no joy to say this, but what if your trainer isn’t here anymore? You might just be running around causing more harm than good!”

Onix twitched at this while Greta and Yolanda both blinked. 

“That… is right?” Greta offered. “Huh. Yeah, that actually makes sense.”

“You say that like you’re surprised!” Crystal grinned cheekily.

“That’s because I am?” muttered Greta. Mankey nodded at his trainer and Crystal huffed. “You’re all a bunch of bullies,” she muttered.

Yolanda coughed. “Pot?” she said, her eyes flicking to Onix who was looking dejected at what had been revealed to him.

Crystal raised and then lowered a finger before conceding the argument. 

Rather than remain depressed, Onix suddenly perked up. “On! Onnn Ooon!” Onix said with a happy tone.

“Translation!” barked Crystal as she chopped her hand towards Yolanda.

“Uhmm, he says there was a section of the tunnels that his trainer kept coming back to all the time and excavating. Said it was super important to him?”

Onix nodded frantically.

Crystal sighed and shook her head. “So… why didn’t you think to go there?” 

Onix blinked slowly, and the girls all stared.

“Oh, Crystal was right,” muttered Greta out the side of her mouth. 

“Don’t bully him, he’s just… lost and mixed up, alright?” Yolanda said, defending the Onix stolidly.

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Crystal growled. “He’s got a tragic backstory, but let’s get him to take us to that section of tunnel and see if there was anything important about it!” 

Rather than having to tell Onix. Onix nodded, having understood the order. He turned and burrowed through the wall to turn around and lead the girls back the way he had come.

The girls hurried along after him. 

“Onix! Slow down!” Yolanda called before the large snake could pull too far away from him. Thankfully, her words reached him, and he slowed enough for them to follow through a network of tunnels and forks in the road until they were sliding down a steep slope.

“I hope you know where you’re going cause I’m lost as all heck!” gasped Crystal.

In response, Yolanda turned her red light blue and turned it back on slope, revealing that everything she’d touched in the last few minutes had a slight glow to it.

Incidentally, various parts of her own body and face also lit up, causing the girls and their pokemon to snort at the comical sight.

Yolanda puffed up her cheeks in response, which only looked more ridiculous with the neon paint on them. “It’ll wash or fade away after a day, alright? It’s a valid method of being able to retrace your steps until then!”

“Thanks, that’s a relief to hear rave girl Yol!” gushed Crystal.

In response, Yolanda merely rolled her eyes. “It’s rocker girl,” she muttered to herself, only to come to a stop as Onix did so.

Looking around, they found themselves in a large cavern, oddly enough with no zubat on the roof or what appeared to be any other pokemon.

“Huh… no other pokemon…” she shone her torch all around, only to find nothing. “Not a one? That’s concerning,” muttered Yolanda as she started to look around. 

All over the cavern were signs that the walls had been carved at, along with the occasional points that had been hacked at with what had to be a mining pick. Throughout various points, the walls appeared to glisten and reflect her red light, only for her to focus the beam and spot nothing.

Hmmm, odd.

“Hey Yolanda, there’s something here,” Greta whispered.

Yolanda’s eyes darted to the wall, saw no danger and resumed sweeping the cavern.

The torch arced around only for it to pass over a large sink hole… a sink hole that was perfectly circular and caused a warning bell to start ringing mentally in Yolanda’ mind. 

She stepped a little closer, making sure to stay within reach of the girls as the hair on the back of her neck started to rise. How the other two hadn’t noticed the sinkhole, she didn’t know, they were both too busy poking at the wall.

The sinkhole… it was too dark, even in a cave system.

Part of her wanted to kick a rock over the edge to listen for the noise to determine how deep the hole was.

But an instinct in her mind was warning her that such an idea was terrible for one simple reason.

You never knew what would wake up from such a simple sound.

“Hey girls? I think we should probably leave here, or at least be very careful,” Yolanda whispered as she tugged on both girl’s shirts to get their attention. 

It was then that her eyes fell upon the rock walls, noting that they were speckled through with dark gems.

“Huh? Why’s that?” Crystal asked only to blink. “Are you…” She fell silent and began glancing around, only for her torch beam to fall upon the sink hole that sat just off to the side. “Greta… why is this cavern perfectly round?”

Greta and Yolanda’s heads snapped around searching the room for any rough angles only for there to be nothing. The entire cavern was… almost perfectly round.

Then their heads turned slowly upwards to reveal that it was an almost perfect circle bored into the ground and roof. 

Greta swallowed. “Oh… this is where a powerful pokemon lives isn’t it?”

Yolanda nodded, glad that her friend could grasp the threat so quickly.

Greta began glancing around, checking the other angles. “There’s no bones left around… so that’s good, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it is,” replied Yolanda, not willing to voice why it was, and all the ways that such a lack of bones, didn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things.

“Crystal, we’re in a pokemon’s den!”

“I was hoping you’d say something other than that… you’re certain?”

“Deadly certain,” replied Yolanda. “I think we need to get out of here.” 

Turning to the Onix that had led them here. “Onix! Can you smell danger?” she asked.

The Onix paused in checking its surroundings to smell the air. It instantly stiffened and began to quiver, which caused a small rockslide around it such that Yolanda regretted asking the large pokemon.

“Shhh! Shhh! No! Onix, it’s fine… It’s gone away! There’s no danger!” Yolanda lied in hopes of giving them better odds of leaving this den.

“Ooon?” it rumbled, making Yolanda regret addressing this pokemon outright. She really was starting to understand that this Onix was a bit lacking in the brains department.

Yolanda was about to shush it again when the sound of voices made her turn to find another tunnel entrance that had a light approaching them.

“—alright, alright you can join our group, but we’re keeping it forty, forty, twenty split alright?” demanded a man’s voice.

“B-b-b-but I was the finder! I think it’s more than reasonable to get thirty!” a thinner, reedier voice whined.

“Shut your pie hole! Urgh! You’re so annoying! Be happy with twenty percent or we’ll go for forty five split with the two of us and ten for you!” grumped a third female voice.

Grumbling was all they heard before the light resolved itself into a torch with three people marching out of the tunnel. In the middle, a man with slumped head and shoulders blearily glanced around only to adjust thick glasses on his nose.

“It was just around here…” he started to say, only to trail off as the light caught sight of the girls, who grimaced.

“Oi! Keep your light off the face!” hissed Crystal.

“Bunch of brats?” muttered a man’s voice, pointedly keeping his light fixed on their faces.

“Huh, so it is…” replied the woman. “Although I think I know that one. Aren’t you Brock’s little sister?”

Yolanda peered past her hand, which she was using to block out most of the light stabbing into her eyes. She just knew her night vision was going to be shot thanks to these people!

She could just make out blonde hair on the woman and green hair on the man… which, for some reason, made her take a step back and drop her other hand to another pokeball. “Do I know you?” she asked politely as warning bells rang in her head. Terra, sensing her worry began to bristle in warning. Crystal shifted as well, her mankey appearing and hopping up to her shoulder while Cyndaquil appeared behind her without a hint of flame, going hidden in the darkness.

The pair shared a look. “No, but we’re people worth knowing. Say, have you girls seen anything—”

“Onix!” screeched the slumped man as he spotted the Onix that had led the girls here. “You’re alright?”

He made to run forward only to leap to the side, his slump vanishing as he pointed at the pair behind him. “Onix! Slam them into paste!” he demanded.

Onix blinked slowly, stunned by this sudden command, then it turned and roared only for a pokemon to emerge from the man’s pokebelt and leap into action before it could throw its weight forward.

“PRIMEAPE!” screeched the furious fighting type. 

It didn’t escape Yolanda’s notice that as the Primeape came out, so too did a Raticate and a Houndoom from the woman’s pokebelt.

“Spot! Slash! Flapper!” she barked, her fingers dancing on the pokebelt to release everything she had in this situation.

Onix slammed back into the ground with a painful wail that caused the cavern to tremor slightly, making Yolanda flinch, and her eyes wanted to dart to the side, only for common sense to force her to stick with the threat before her.

“You’re criminals,” she declared, her mind finally connecting the dots on this pair. Her brother and Sabrina had once spoken of the pair of fugitives when their faces had come up on television.

“Criminals? Us? That’s soooo… banal,” offered the woman with a coy giggle. “I prefer the term rebels without a cause!” she gushed. 

Her eyes fell to Terra. “That’s a good pokemon girl. Shame it isn’t a Larvitar. I know some buyers for pokemon like that, but I guess a Sneasel and a Growlithe, once properly retrained, would still sell well.”

Spot and Slash both growled deeply while Terra narrowed her eyes. Yolanda was pleased to see her and Flapper building energy with some buff moves without her having to give the order. In pokemon matches it wasn’t allowed but she’d been sure to train them on real life battling and how the rules didn’t apply in situations like this.

At her side, Greta and Crystal settled into fighting stances. “That’s not happening,” snarled Crystal.

“O-onix? No! Urgh! You were always too slow and stupid!” whined the wimpy-looking man only for the woman’s partner in crime to march forward and grab him by the collar.

“Listen here you two faced little sneasel, don’t think you’re clever, it’s causing you more issues. You got lucky, now! Tell us where the fossils are!”

“Fossils?” Yolanda asked, recalling her friends mentioning something about the walls earlier but that hadn’t been as important as the sinkhole and threat of danger.

The woman sighed. “Nice going Butch, why don’t you tell the brats everything while you’re at it!”

“Oh, don’t fret, Cassidy girl, we’ll deal with them easily enough, won’t we, Primeape?” he asked. In response, the fighting type began to march forward, fists pumping back and forth with punches so powerful the air blasted forward.

“Butch, careful! The girl is worth something!” Cassidy said, indicating Yolanda, who scowled.

Crystal and Greta stepped forward as though she was the one needing protection. “You’re not taking her!” They growled together. 

Venusaur stomped forward causing the Primeape to reassess the situation.

Butch scoffed and made to reply only for a mournful cry to sound out. 

Torches swivelled to assess the new threat, only to find an Absol posed atop a small hidden rock tunnel precariously.

“Abbbbbbbb Sol!” it cried out. It turned its head, and Yolanda felt it then, a shuddering rumble that grew in intensity quickly.

Absol vanished a moment before everyone’s heads turned to the sinkhole.

They all heard it first, a rumble that turned into a roar that soon became all-encompassing.

Yolanda turned to her friends and screamed for them to flee as all thoughts of standing and fighting fled her mind. Her voice was lost as the roar took over everything.

Rocks fell from the ceiling, and the girls and their pokemon stumbled as they ran for the nearby tunnel leading upwards.

Crystal and Greta both tugged at their lanyards as they ran, their eyes turning hopeful but Yolanda merely grabbed both of them by the arm and ran on, dragging them with her.

Behind her, the other group fled for the other tunnel, only for the traitorous man to turn to a wall and rip something out of it with a cry of victory. Then he turned and made for the girls' exit rather than that of Butch and Cassidy’s.

Butch made to chase, only for Cassidy to grab him and pull him with her out of the tunnel as their pokemon vanished into pokeballs.

Yolanda copied them a moment later, only for the shaking to stop.

The sudden stop caused her to misstep and stumble, almost falling to the ground except for her grip on her friends.

Sadly, they both stumbled in turn, causing them all to fall only for Venusaur to scoop them up and have them on his back as he fast marched out of danger.

“Hahahah! The fossil is mine!” screeched the man as he started to run past the girls, only for a softer rumble to come from behind Yolanda.

For half a second, Yolanda feared that it was all over, only for Onix to sweep under them and lift them all onto its back. Venusaur shifted and used his vines to brace on Onix’s back.

From there, it carried them past the shocked man. Yolanda reached out with her hand, not willing to leave him behind.

He snatched the hand and almost tore her off Onix’s back, but her friends were quick to grab her.

“Urgh! Shoulda just left him!” Crystal grunted as she and Greta dragged Yolanda and the man onto Onix’s back.

The man blinked at them, only to lean back. “It’s mine!” he hissed, clutching at the fossil.

The girls gave him looks of disbelief, then shook their heads and urged Onix onwards. 

Yolanda looked behind them.

Where the sinkhole had been, there were now two glowing red eyes staring after them.

Yolanda felt her heart lurch in fear at seeing those eyes. It was like seeing one of Brock’s horror stories come to life.

If those were indicative of the being's size… then that pokemon must have been gargantuan. 

What sort of pokemon was that? Her pokedex rose and she tried to catch a picture only for nothnig but the yes to register in the darkness.

She suddenly felt very out of her depth. Thankfully, the eyes didn’t move, merely continued to observe her until they passed from sight as the tunnel turned in on itself.

Strangely, Yolanda felt less assured.

She knew something big was out there, and she had no idea where it was right now. 

Her mind sped up, and she started twitching towards rocks that fell from the tunnel roof, only for Mankey and Venusaru to swat them away from the girls. The man however, received no such protection, taking a few hits that drew whimpers from him as he continued to clutch at his fossil. 

Yolanda licked her lips and swallowed. That… that had been rather intense. She needed to breath, yeah, that was it. Just breath like Brock had shown her.

To help calm her nerves, she released Terra into her lap and cuddled up to her.

“Tar?”

“Just.. a bit of a close call,” she whispered. “I’m alright… I’m alright,” she repeated. Looking up, she saw that her friends were fine as well, if shaken from the encounter.

“We’re lucky there was an Absol nearby,” she said.

“Feh! That Absol probably called forth the beast of the depths!” sneered the man.

Crystal sighed. “Man, you’re just a barrel of smiles and good times, aren’t you, old man?”

“Old man? I’ll have you know I’m only twenty-two!” gasped the man. “You’re just too young! What are you three even doing down here?” he asked suspiciously.

“On our journey?” Crystal replied. “Duh?”

“Hmmm, the next circuit has begun. Urgh! Good thing I captured my prize when I did, or else snot-nosed brats would be all over me!” he muttered, ignoring the girls.

Crystal sighed and shook her head, returning to looking ahead. “I don’t know about you girls, but I think two incidents like this are enough for me for a while. Let’s stay above ground for a while going forwards yeah?”

Greta nodded and Yolanda giggled her agreement.

A few minutes later, Onix had them once more seeing sunlight, although Yolanda noted that the position meant that they were now on Cerulean’s side of the mountain. Sure enough, she soon spotted route four leading off to the east.

“Hmph! Thank you for… the assistance,” muttered the still nameless man.

Crystal turned, her lips twitching for some odd reason. “You’re not going to offer to give us a share of the find then, for rescuing your life?”

Yolanda was about to scold her friend when the man snorted. “No.” He sniffed. “If that’s all, I think I will bid you all good day, come Onix!”

Yolanda felt her heart sink, and she glanced up sadly, only to find Onix resolutely not moving.

The man walked on for a few metres only to blink when he realised Onix wasn’t following. He turned and sighed. “Urgh! Stupid pokemon!” he drew out a pokeball and activated it.

The beam connected, but Onix twitched, and the beam cut out.

“Eh? What gives?” The man raised his pokeball to his glasses. “Did this get damaged just now?”

“Ooooooooooon!” rumbled Onix with a shake of his head.

Yolanda dutifully translated for the pokemon. “He doesn’t want to be your pokemon anymore, not if you’re going to treat him like you have been.”

The man lowered the pokeball. “What? Don’t be ridiculous! You’re mine! I caught you! Obey!” he commanded, brandishing the pokeball and toggling the recall.

The beam once more shot out, only for Onix’s tail to sweep around and break the ball.

The man stared at his now-empty hand. Yolanda whistled. That had been an impressively accurate Iron Tail.

“Onix!” declared the Onix firmly before jerking its nose down the road.

The man gasped and ran, still clutching his prize, squealing in fear as he ran, only to trip and face-plant. He was back up and away moments later, but not before the sound of the girl’s laughter began to chase after him.

Yolanda slowly stopped giggling and looked up at the… well-meaning Onix. “So, what are you going to do from now on?” she asked.

Onix blinked, and she sighed. She should have guessed that Onix hadn’t thought things through. Planning definitely wasn’t its strong suit.

“If you’d like, I could catch you and send you to my brother’s Gym. The strength of your Iron Tail is quite impressive. You could do well at the Pewter Gym!”

“Ooooon?” questioned Onix.

Crystal sighed and stepped forward. “ Let me speed this up Yolanda.” She coughed and directed a flat look at Onix. “There’s hot Onix girls there that would love a hunk like you!” she shouted.

Once more her voice echoed over the hills and mountains causing Yolanda and Greta to giggle as “Hot Onix Girls!” repeated itself over and over.

This time, Crystal blushed furiously. “I… might have forgotten about that,” she muttered.

Onix nodded happily at that offer, and Yolanda offered him a pokeball that he tapped once with his nose to allow himself to be drawn in. 

Yolanda hummed, placing it on her pokebelt for later as her gaze turned down the road to where a Ranger’s station awaited and from there, Cerulean.

“Man, that pokemon nerd was a bit of a freak wasn’t he?” Crystal said out of nowhere.

Yolanda glanced at her friend only to spot that both she and Greta had smug looks on their faces. “Alright, what’s up with you two? You’re way too smug right now.”

The two girls shared a look before reaching into their pouch to draw out what could only be fossils. “He wasn’t the only guy to find something neat in the walls. While you were busy watching that sinkhole for danger, Greta and I might have pried these from the walls.”

“I think these are claw and skull fossils!” Greta gushed, showing the two she had in her hands while Crystal held up what could only be a helix fossil.

Yolanda whistled. That was a good find. 

Greta offered her the claw fossil. “Here, this is for you as thanks for watching our back, also… I think you’d do well with a rock type like this.”

“Oh? Well thanks!” Yolanda said, bowing in thanks. When she took the fossil, a bit crumbled off and she saw that it wasn’t really a claw at all. Was it a jaw fossil then? Huh, she’d have to get it looked at.

Just another thing to send to Brock to deal with, along with the video recording of her adventure in Mt Moon’s depths.

Giving the mountain a final look, Yolanda couldn’t help but smile. She’d gone looking for an adventure, and she’d sure found it!

______________________

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!

For those not in the know, that was an Alpha pokemon! Giant-sized, red glowing eyes are the main indicators, something that Brock wouldn’t have a great idea about due to them being Arceus Legends concept. I’ll keep which pokemon it was in my back pocket however!

Oh, and yes, Butch and Cassidy escaped League custody as the Orre prison they were in didn’t know who they had.

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!