A Pokemon Tale Part I: The Journey Begins

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The Nugget Bridge

Pewter City-

When Lance's Pokémon arrived at the Pewter City Gym with his hostage, he didn't let go of the man. The tall dragon walked into the Gym holding the Team Rocket Captain's arms behind his back. Brock arrived to see what the fuss was about, as the Captain was making a lot of noise kicking and screaming.

"You can't hold me here!" he said. "I didn't do nothing wrong!"

"Can it," said Brock. "There must be a good reason why Champion Lance's own Pokémon is restraining you. We'll just wait for him to get here." Brock had stayed up all night replacing the Boulder Badge he had given to Red. It had to sit just right upon the stone pillar at the far side of the stadium.

Eventually, Lance arrived accompanied by Lorelei. If your mind needs refreshing she is also a member of the Elite Four, and is Lance's girlfriend. Lance began the interrogation then.

"Who do you work for?" he asked. He wanted to get straight to the point.

"Nobody," said the man. "Team Rocket works for themselves."

"Oh," said Lorelei. "Then why did the kids you battled at Mt. Moon say you mentioned a 'Boss,' a higher authority?"

"They're lying," said the Captain. Sweat had begun to dribble through his red headband.

"They also said that you left with the Moon Stone to return to a 'Base Camp' while you left your underlings to deal with them. They said you intended to steal their Pokémon."

"We were just trying to scare them into not battling as hard that's all."

"You threatened them with a Voltorb," said Lance. "I saw you hold it up like an explosive. Pokémon aren't to be used as weapons to harm other trainers."

"Just a scare tactic."

Lorelei scoffed in disbelief. She could tell he was lying, but they couldn't prove that he had broken any law. Trainers go to excavate Moon Stones all the time, it wasn't a crime. Lance then became curious.

"The kids said after you came back, you didn't have the special Moon Stone anymore. What happened to it? Did you chuck it off the mountainside to be found later by more of your gang? And they said they heard a deafening explosion, but yet you didn't use the Voltorb against them. Care to explain?"

The Captain shuddered. The two Elite Four members and Brock could see fear in his eyes. At last, he spoke. His voice was shaky with terror.

"It's gone… The Fossil Moon Stone… I… I ran away from the battle. I ran for about a hundred yards down the passage…" His eyes grew wide, he was telling the truth. He had forgotten all about being a member of Team Rocket, and instead, seemed like a small child begging for help. "Someone was in my way, he wouldn't let me pass. I thought it was one of our thugs so I says 'Get out of the way, we gotta go now.'