FicWad

Sailor Moon's Pokémon Journey

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Pokémon.

Chapter 9

As planed the Inner Senshi headed out after school to the mansion that the Outer Scouts shared to seek out Setsuna Meiou aka Sailor Pluto. Unsurprisingly the woman, who was still dressed in her nurses’ uniform from school, seemed to be waiting on them in the front living room sipping from a steaming cup of tea. (1)

"Setsuna we..." Minako stepped forward as the chosen spoke person for the girls.

"Yes?" Setsuna said, her garnet colored eyes resting on them with an almost amused glint to them. Minako had a feeling the time watcher knew what they wanted to ask.

"We want to know more about our past lives," the blond said, "about what powers we had back then during the Silver Millennium."

"Why?" Setsuna asked as she gently placed her cup of tea on the table.

"We had to have more powerful attacks back them," Makoto said as she stepped forward. "Luna told us that there wasn't a Sailor Moon back then so we had to be stronger to protect Usagi back then."

"Luna doesn't know everything," Setsuna said. The girls looked at each other in confusion.

"What does that mean?" Ami asked.

"Selene, the last Queen Serenity, was the last to take up the mantel of Sailor Moon in her youth when she, myself and your past lives mothers were still princesses of their home worlds," Setsuna explained. "Everything was not always sunshine and daisies, we still had battle our share of forces of darkness and evil."

"So Usagi was Sailor Moon in her past life?" Makoto asked.

"She was trained by her mother in secret but never had the chance to fully take up the mantel," the green hair woman said with a sigh. "In the chaos of Beryl's attack, Princess Serenity didn't have her own transformation brooch with her and may have not even thought to use it at all after the Prince was killed."

"How come Luna didn't know?" Rei asked. "Or Artemis, he seems to agree with her that Usagi is the first ever Sailor Moon."

"Suspended animation left both of them with repressed memories," Setsuna explained. "And now have large gaping holes in their memories from various times in their lives. They remember parts of their lives on Mau, of the Moon kingdom, of other times but there are still large gaps of missing information. In time they should remember, but 1,000 years is a long time to be asleep and this was the side affect."

Ami thought about it and nodded her head, it made sense to her.

"We can't wait on them to remember," the blue hair girl said. "We are going up against monsters that take all of us to defeat and we may not all be there next time." Setsuna sighed and looked at each girl.

"I would love to tell you it was as easy as waving the Time Key and suddenly you remember everything from your past lives," The green hair woman said. "But it's really not. I can't force you to remember those days, it's not like your memoires are locked away like they were after Beryl was defeated, your time in the Silver Millennium was a completely different /lifetime/.

"You can remember your past life bit by bit, even retake up the thrones of your planets one day, but if you were to suddenly remember everything, your mind would be unable to take it."

"Then what can we do?" Minako asked.

"In time those powers will reawaken in you, just like they had before," Setsuna assured them. "You can't force it."

"Couldn't you just look in the time gate and tell us what the powers were?" Rei asked.

"Telling you what your more powerful attacks were doesn’t mean you'll know how to use them," Setsuna pointed out. "Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"Why not?" Makoto asked. Setsuna sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"The time gate is still foggy, whoever the enemy is they are determine to stop any effort I take to find out who they are," She said. "In time I might be able to break through but the past is blurry and any other time lines, including ones we are not a part of, is completely blocked and I am unable to see them. Whoever took the Hime did not want us to find where they took her, it was only chance that we were able to send his majesty after Usagi-no-Hime."

"And now that link has been cut off too," Ami said. Setsuna nodded, picking up her cooling tea again.

"And I can't follow Usagi or Mamoru's path to where they are," she told him. "Only thing I can tell you is that your powers will return to you in time, in the meantime we'll all do what we can to stop these attacks. Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and I have been doing our part as well."

The girls hung their heads in disappointment but agreed with the older woman.

***

Mamoru blinked as he walked through the entrance of the cave and the afternoon sunlight assaulted his eyes.

"Budew," his little companion said happily as she stretched up toward the sunlight, so happy to be out of that dark dank cave. Mamoru chuckled as the little Pokémon on his shoulder bounced happy as it soaked up the rays of the sun.

"Happy to be back out in the sunlight?" he asked softly, smiling as Budew looked up at him with a brilliant smile.

"Dew Budew!" She said, bouncing from foot to foot. Mamoru glanced back at the cave he just came through, he heard one person inside call it 'Union Cave', it had taken him hours to get through it and had witness many battles between 'trainers'. The reactions of the creatures Kurt had called Pokémon ranged from looking happy to battle to not wanting to battle at all. Surprisingly he saw the latter the least, most of the Pokémon seemed happy to take orders from their masters and mistresses.

He had been approached by a few of the other trainers to battle but had turned them all down. Mamoru had heard one boy say to another it was no wonder, he only had a little Budew and no other Pokémon. Another had told him he would have to make Budew battle or she would never get stronger. Budew only had to take one look at one of the fire breathing Pokémon and hid behind her trainer with a squeak of fear. He couldn't blame her, plants lost out to fire after all.

Mamoru turned his attention from the cave and took in their surroundings. In the tall grass he could see what looked like a herd of sheep like Pokémon grazing lazily in the sun. He thought he saw a large purple snake slither through the grasses and above him little odd reddish pink creatures flew through the air using two long leaves like propellers.

In the distance Mamoru could see a river, he was tired from walking and hungry so he headed that way. He could sit by the bank as he rested and eat some of the food in his pack.

As he sat down by the water edge, Budew jumped down off his shoulder and ran over to the water edge, laughing as she jumped and splashed around in the shallow waters.

"Quagsire," Mamoru turned and watched further down the bank as a large blue Pokémon surfaced above the water, speaking to a smaller blue one with what looked like a coral antenna sticking out of its head on either side.

"Wooper!" The other Pokémon said.

"Sire quag quagsire," the other Pokémon dived under the water.

"Wooper!" The smaller Pokémon seemed to cheer and dove into the waters with Quagsire. Mamoru wondered what the two Pokémon were, just hearing them say their names didn't give him much to go on, then remembered what Kurt told him about the Pokédex. Pointing the device at a Pokémon would allow it to give information on it. There were more of the two Pokémon swimming in the water so he pointed the Pokédex at them.

"DING WOOPER, THE WATER FISH POKÉMON. IT LIVES IN COLD WATER, HALF BURYING ITSELF IN THE MUD AT THE BOTTOM TO SLEEP. WHEN THE TEMPERATURE COOLS IN THE EVENING, THEY EMERGE FROM THE WATER TO SEEK FOOD ALONG THE SHORE, WHEN WALKING ON LAND, IT COVERES ITS BODY WITH A POISONOUS FILM THAT KEEPS ITS SKIN FROM DEHYDRATING.

"DING QUAGSIRE, THE WATER FISH POKÉMON. THE EVOLVED FORM OF WOOPER, THIS POKÉMON HAS A RELAXED AND CAREFREE ATTIDTUDE; IT OFTEN BUMPS ITS HEAD ON BOULDERS AND BOAT HULLS AS IT SWIMS. QUAGSIRE HUNTS FOR FOOD BY LEAVING ITS MOUTH WIDE OPEN IN WATER AND WAITING FOR ITS PREY TO BLUNDER IN UNAWARE. BECAUSE THE POKÉMON DOES NOT MOVE, IT DOES NOT GET VERY HUNGRY."

"So evolving just turns Pokémon into something completely different," Mamoru said to himself as he tucked his green Pokédex back into his pocket. Budew wandered back over to him and plunked down on ground.

"Dew," She said as she started to sun herself. Mamoru's lips quirked into a smile and reached into his bag for some jerky that Kurt's granddaughter Maisy had given him. He had been worried that the jerky had been made from a Pokémon but Kurt assured him that it was cow and not Miltank or Tauros, whatever those were. (3)

Mamoru looked back over the water again as he slowly ate the jerky, watching as another purple snake on the other side of the river stalked a large purple rat. The purple rat spun and attacked the snake, both of them too far away to for him to hear their names.

"Croa..." Mamoru blinked and looked to his side. There was a large blue frog kneeling on the ground next to him, looking at the meat in Mamoru's hand.

"Wha?" Mamoru was a little unnerved by the look the Pokémon was giving him.

"Croagunk!" Someone called, a boy in his late teens running up. He had tanned skin and short brown hair that laid in a spiky fashion and wore a green top with an orange and gray vest and khaki pants. The boy’s eyes also appeared to be squinted, giving him a look of his eyes being closed. "I'm so sorry," The teen said as he came to a stop, leaning over forward to rest his hands on his knees.

"It's ok," Mamoru said. "He hasn't done anything so far."

"Dew!" Budew jumped up onto Mamoru's leg and looked up at the larger Pokémon.

"Croagunk," the teen said, turning his attention back to the frog-like Pokémon. "You only had to wait two more minutes, lunch was almost ready."

"Croaaa..." The Pokémon said the sound very much like a real frog or toad might make. The boy sighed then turned back to Mamoru. "He was a little impatient. Oh hey! You're welcome to join us if you like."

"That's ok, I don't want to intrude," Mamoru said.

"Nah, I'm use to making enough to feed a small army," The teen said with a laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's no problem." Mamoru opened his mouth to decline again the blushed very faintly as his stomach told him it wanted real food, not jerky!

"Errr... I guess if it's not a problem," He said instead as he stood, helping Budew up onto his shoulder.

"No problem at all," The teen said. "By the way, I'm Brock." He held out his hand for Mamoru to shake. The young man smiled slightly and shook the other's hand.

"My name is Mamoru," He said.

"Well Mamoru, come over this way then," Brock said as he walked back toward where he had left his things with Croagunk following him. "Here we are, just make yourself comfortable."

Mamoru sat down on the grass next to a make-shift cooking pit while Brock quickly made sure the food he had been making was still all there and hadn't been burnt.

"Hey, you can release the rest of your Pokémon and they can eat with us," Brock offered.

"I don't have any others, Budew is my only companion," Mamoru told the younger man. Brock nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah, Croagunk is my only Pokémon with me too, I left the rest of my Pokémon with my brother Forrest at my family's gym," Brock said. "He and my other siblings take care of them for me."

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" Mamoru asked curiously.

"Oh, I have five brothers and four sisters," Brock said with a laugh.

"That's... ah... a lot," Mamoru said.

"Yeah, I use to take care of all of them growing up, our parents were always out perusing their own things," Brock said. "I wasn't kidding when I said I'm use to feeding a small army."

"No, you wasn't," Mamoru agreed. Brock handed the older man a plate full of food then sat two bowls of Pokémon friendly food out next.

"Bud!" Budew jumped down and walked over to one of the bowls, using her leaves to pick up a piece of food. "Budew!"

Mamoru started to eat as well, quickly deciding that the younger boy could give Makoto a run for her money in cooking.

"Great huh!" Brock said with a laugh as he saw the look on Mamoru's face.

"Yes," Mamoru agreed. "It reminds me of a friend of mine's cooking, it's one of her passions."

"A girl huh?" Brock said, perking up. "Is she pretty? Not a girlfriend of your eh?" Now the Earth prince was reminding again of Makoto.

"She's pretty, but not my girlfriend," Mamoru said. Brocks face flushed as he tried to imagine what a pretty girl who liked cooking as much as him would look like. /'I may have found the male Makoto,' /Mamoru thought in amusement.

"So, Mamoru, where are you headed off to?" Brock asked once he got his head out of 'dream-girl' land, a place that ran rampant with Jennys and Joys. "Azalea Town?"

"No, I just came from there," Mamoru said. "I'm not sure where I'm heading."

"Well there's Bloomingvale, Happy Town, and Violet City that way," Brock explained pointing in a direction. (3)

"You seem to know your way around," Mamoru said.

"Yeah, I know the Johto region pretty well. I traveled around here a couple of years ago with my friends Ash and Misty," Brock said with a laugh. "Misty is a Gym Leader like me and Ash traveled around challenging all the gyms so he could become a Pokémon Master."

Mamoru nodded slowly, remembering what Kurt had explained about the 'Gyms' and how trainers battle the leaders for badges so they could challenge some elite group of masters for the title, or something like that.

"I came back a few months ago, just me and Croagunk," Brock continued. "I'm training to be a doctor."

"A doctor?" Mamoru who had been going to collage to be a doctor himself asked.

"Yeah, for Pokémon. I use to want to be a breeder but now I want to heal Pokémon like Nurse Joy does," Brock said with a nod. "I've been going Pokémon Medical School in Kanto and now I'm apprentice under Doctor Black. He mostly has me traveling around helping at Pokémon centers and Pokémon in the wild." (4)

"That's funny," Mamoru said with a slight smile. "I am studying to be a doctor as well, but for humans."

"So what are you doing out here?" Brock asked, he didn't see what a doctor for humans was doing out in the wilds unless maybe Mamoru was training to take care of people out in the wild? Mamoru frowned, wondering what he could tell the younger man and how much. He remembered what he told the old man Kurt, what little he told him, and figured if he did the same for Brock, the teen could draw his own conclusions in the blanks. And who knows, Brock might have some news that may have to do with his girlfriend.

"My girlfriend Usagi was kidnapped," Mamoru said at last. "I followed her kidnappers here but got lost in Ilex Forest I think it was called."

"Was it Team Rocket?" Brock asked, remembering the mostly bumbling Team Rocket members known as Jesse, James and the talking Meowth who followed his friend Ash everywhere trying to capture the boy's Pikachu. Of course those three were some of the worse examples of Team Rocket members and Brock knew there were those who were a lot more dangerous.

"I don't know," Mamoru said with a shake of his head. He knew it wasn't this 'Team Rocket' he kept hearing about unless this group suddenly had the power to take powerful magical girls from other worlds.

"Well that's horrible," Brock said, he hated the idea of anybody being kidnapped. "Do you have any idea where to look?"

"No, I have no idea where I am now," Mamoru confessed. "I'm from Japan; I followed Usako's kidnappers from there." Now Brock really felt bad for the older man, girlfriend kidnapped and completely out of his element here. The stocky future Pokémon doctor wanted to help but he wasn't sure how.

'Well, I could travel around with him,' Brock thought to himself. 'I've been around Johto before with Ash and Misty and it wouldn't go against the training Doctor Black has been giving me.'

Meanwhile, while the two men were talking, Budew happily popped little pieces of Pokefood in her mouth using her leaves. She was on the edge of the group, sitting in a patch of sunlight as she enjoyed the treat. Behind her a bush rustled as something inside moved.

"Zel," Budew blinked and turned to look behind her, she swore she had heard something.

"Bu?" She got up and walked closer to the bush, peering into the bush curiously. "Budew?" A pair of black eyes stared back out at the small grass Pokémon, startling Budew. "Dew!"

Mamoru and Brock looked over and saw an orange blur rush out of the bush and stopped over the dish Budew was eating out of.

"Buizel!" The otter like Pokémon grabbed a hand full pokefood then took off for the river.

"Hey wait!" Brock said as he stood up.

"What was that?" Mamoru said as he picked up Budew when she ran over to him and stood up as well.

"A Buizel, they're common in the Sinnoh region but kinda rare here," Brock said. "We should follow it."

"Because it stole your food?" The older man asked.

"I don't care about that, if it asked I would have happily given it some," Brock said with a wave of his hand. "But it looks like it taking the food somewhere, a Pokémon could be hurt and unable to feed itself, I just want to make sure everything is ok." Mamoru nodded in understanding and ran with Brock and Croagunk down the river bank, little Budew sitting in the front pocket of his shirt. The Buizel swam quickly, using his two tails like a propeller while holding his front paws above the water to keep the food from getting wet and soggy. The water type didn't seem to notice he was being followed.

The Buizel suddenly took a turn in the river and swam under the long dangling limbs of a willow tree. Brock and Mamoru looked at each other and slowly followed, peering around the tree.

"Wow," Brock said softly.

"Dew," Budew agreed softly. Mamoru agreed with both of them, the Buizel had lead them to a serene looking lagoon, a small waterfall feeding into the waters. The pair of men saw several different types of water Pokémon swimming in the waters.

"There it is," Mamoru whispered, pointing at where he could see the Buizel swimming up in front of the waterfall.

"Bui buizel!" The Buizel called as he climbed up on a large rock in front of the waterfall and laying the food on rock's surface. "Zel Zel!"

A dark shape appeared behind the waterfall as the Buizel called out.

"Aligatr," a deep voice called back, the dark shape stepped through the curtain of water revealing a large blue alligator like Pokémon with a red crest down its back.

"It's a Feraligatr," Brock said.

"A what?" Mamoru asked.

"A Feraligatr, it's the final evolved form of this region’s water starter," Brock explained. "I wonder what is going on."

The Feraligatr leaned down and sniffed the Pokefood the Buizel had brought.

"Gatr feral," the Feraligatr sniffed in distaste then growled at Buizel, pointing with a claw. "Feraligatr!"

"B-bui buizel," Buizel shrank back as the Feraligatr leaned close, the much larger Pokémon's razor sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

"Aligatr fer feral aligatr," The Feraligatr said in a menacing tone. The Pokémon stood up its full height again, snatching Buizel around the neck and held the smaller Pokémon up, looking out at the other Pokémon in the lagoon. "Feraligatr Feral!" The other Pokémon all shivered in fear as the Feraligatr roared and snapped its powerful jaws in warning while shaking the Buizel. The Buizel was thrown into the water by the Feraligatr who then swiped up the food Buizel had brought. The food was tossed into the air and eaten with one gulp as the Pokémon's mouth snapped around the pieces. Once last glare out into the lagoon, the Feraligatr turned and walked back into the cave behind the waterfall.

"That beast," Mamoru said in disgust.

"You're right, it’s bullying all the smaller Pokémon into finding food for it," Brock said with a frown. "First time I've ever seen a Feraligatr act like that. What's also weird is that I don't see any Totodiles or Croconaws anywhere."

"Why is that strange?" Mamoru asked, having no idea on the subject himself.

"Wild Feraligatrs live with their un-evolved forms," Brock said. "So it's odd to see one without others of its kind. Hey look, there's the Buizel," Brock pointed to the water near them. The Buizel was floating nearby not moving, hurt by the attack from the Feraligatr.

"It needs help," Mamoru said softly. He looked out in the lagoon, none of the other Pokémon seemed to be paying any attention and the Feraligatr was still behind the waterfall. Seeing his chance, Mamoru handed Budew to Brock and slowly climbed out from behind the tree.

"Be careful," Brock hissed, keeping an eye out. Mamoru just nodded his head and silently crept closer. He slowly removed the green tweed jacket he loved to wear and with careful, gentle hands wrapped the Buizel in it.

"Zelll..." The Buizel groaned softly in pain but otherwise made no noise as Mamoru lifted him out of the water and was carried out of the lagoon.

***

As they were too far away from the nearest Pokémon center, Brock decided to put his learned skills to use. With Mamoru's help, Brock used a Hyper Potion to heal the worse of the Buizel's injuries and wrapped up the rest in bandages.

"There, it's the best I can do for him," Brock said as he leaned back. "Best thing for him is to rest now."

"Does this sort of thing happen often?" Mamoru asked as he and the younger man settled in to watch over the Pokémon.

"I've traveled a lot the last couple of years with my friend Ash," Brock said. "We've been a lot of places and I've seen a lot of different Pokémon. One time Ash, Misty, and I had a run in with a group of Squirtles called the Squirtle Squad. They use to cause all sort of trouble in the town they lived in."

"What happen to this 'Squirtle Squad'?" Mamoru asked.

"They were tricked by Team Rocket to try and kidnap Ash's Pikachu," Brock explained. "Pikachu got hurt and Ash had to go get a Super Potion while we were held hostage. They claimed that they would kill Misty if Ash didn't get back by noon the next day. I honestly don't think they would have really killed her, just maybe dye her hair purple or something. (5)

"When Ash got back, those idiots Jesse and James, they're members of Team Rocket, started to bomb the Squad and started a forest fire. Ash ended up saving the Squirtle Squad leader and they put out the fire after getting rid of Team Rocket."

"What happen then?" Mamoru was starting to think this world was more than a little crazy, and dangerous.

"Officer Jenny made them the 'Town Fire Fighters' while the leader of the group became Ash's Pokémon," Brock said.

"So the Pokémon changed their ways," Mamoru concluded. "There are good Pokémon and bad ones like that alligator looking one back there." Brock nodded in agreement. Mamoru leaned back on his hands thinking that this world was just too strange.

***

Usagi yawned as she exited the Pokémon center behind Gary, she hated waking up early and they hadn't even eaten yet.

"Why do you insist on waking up this early," Usagi asked with another yawn.

"You're just not a morning person," Gary said. "The earlier you wake up, the more ground you can cover in a day. I keep telling you this almost every day."

"Ugh," Usagi moaned, she was so over walking everywhere. "Can't we just rent a car or something?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Gary asked with a smirk, being a complete hypocrite as he had ridden around in a car during his travels around Kanto when he was younger with a bunch of air head cheerleaders who had stroked his ego.

"Can't we at least get something to eat, I'm starving," Usagi asked, holding a hand up to her stomach as it growled.

"Meowth," Chip said in agreement from where he was sitting on Usagi's shoulder.

"What, you don't want to get the battle at the gym out of the way?" Gary said half jokingly then cowered as Usagi and Chip seem to loom over him with glares of death. "Alright, alright, we'll get breakfast first!"

"Thank you!" Usagi said as she was suddenly all smiles again. Gary shook his head in amusement as he led his companions over to the nearest Waffle House. (6)

A few minutes later he was shaking his head at the amount of food in front of Usagi and glad that he had plenty of money saved up. Usagi's appetite could easily rival most guys that he knew and she didn't even have the excuse of being a 'growing boy'.

"This place is great," Usagi said as she devoured her breakfast.

"It's a restaurant that came from America," Gary said. Usagi just nodded as she stuffed another piece of waffle in her mouth. Chip nayed happily as he enjoyed a steak.

"Whew boy, you sure can put it away miss," the waiter said as he came over to clear away some of the plates. Usagi sighed happily as she leaned back, patting her full stomach.

"That's better," Usagi said in content.

"Well I'm glad you like it," the waiter said. "Hope to see you again some time."

"Done?" Gary asked. When Usagi nodded, Gary took the ticket the waiter handed him to pay. A few minutes later then exited the Waffle House, Usagi and Chip feeling pumped now.

"Ok, now we're ready to tackle that gym," Usagi said, pumping her fist into the air.

"Meowth!" Chip said in agreement, pumping a paw into the air.

"Alright champs, let's go then," Gary said with a laugh.

***

"Ok, remember they use water type Pokémon here," Gary said as they entered the gym. "And you'll likely go up against Misty and knowing her, she won't go easy on you."

"I got it," Usagi said with a wave of her hand. "Ready Chip?"

"Meowth!" Chip ran ahead eagerly, looking over his shoulder at his trainer. Usagi ran after him into the battling area.

"Whoa, it's a giant pool," Usagi said as she slid to a stop.

"Welcome to the Cerulean City gym," Misty said as she stepped up onto the platform across the battle pool. After her experiences from the night before, Misty felt the need to be comfortable with herself again so she had Daisy cut her hair to the length it was a few years ago. She had her hair up in her old side ponytail and over her swim suit she wore a familiar pair of blue jean shorts with red suspenders. "You're that girl from last night, Usagi right?"

"Hai!" Usagi said as she climbed up the stairs to the other platform. "And I'm here to challenge you."

"Alright, that's why I like to hear!" Misty said. "How many gyms have you visited so far?"

"Oh, this is my second one," Usagi said.

"Really?" Misty said as she blinked, Usagi looked old enough to be a trainer for years since most started at 10 years old. "Second ever?"

"Hai," Usagi said. "I'm sorta new to all this," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Well don't think I'll go easy on you," Misty said as she picked out two lower lever but tough Pokémon from the Gym's selection. "Ok, two on two then! Staryu, go!"

Misty tossed out Pokeball onto one of the floating platforms. The ball cracked open and with a flash of red light a Starfish like Pokémon with a large red jewel in its chest appeared.

"Hiya!"

"Ok, Titan!" Usagi tossed out her Gyarados's ball, the large dragon like Pokémon landing in the water with a large splash.

"Hey!" Misty held her arms up in front of her and turned her head away briefly.

"Gyarados!" Titan roared as he rose out of the water.

"A Gyarados!" Misty yelped in surprise. "Are you sure you're a new trainer? Never mind, Staryu, use Swift!"

"Hey ya!" Staryu's red gem flashed then called up a set of stars that flew at Titan. Titan roared in pain as they slammed into him, knocked back into the water. He quickly rose up again as Usagi called her own attack.

"Use Bite!" The red Pokémon roared and dove at Staryu.

"Move out of the way Staryu!" Misty yelled.

"Hiya," Staryu dove into the water with a splash. Not wanting to let Usagi down, Titan dove underwater after Staryu. Both girls yelled as they were soaked through as they were hit from the spray of Titan's splash. Misty didn't mind that much as she was wearing a swim suit but Usagi looked put out as she rung out her long hair.

Titan surfaced with his powerful jaws clamped around Staryu.

"Staryu!" Misty yelled. Titan shook his head and tossed Staryu away. The starfish Pokémon landed with a heavy thump on one of the platforms and slid off the edge into the water. It surfaced a moment later with a 'Hiya!'

"Use Rapid Spin," Misty called.

"Dragon Rage Titan!" Usagi called to Titan. A blue fire built up in Titan's mouth while Staryu started to spin in place quickly after jumping out of the water. As Staryu headed toward Titan's head, Titan breathed a healthy dose of blue dragon fire in the path of the star fish Pokémon. The attack interrupted Staryu's attack, the smaller water Pokémon spun end over end through the air, hitting the wall under Misty's platform then slid down into the water. This time when the Pokémon floated up, it was laying face down in the water.

"Staryu return," Misty said, recalling her Pokémon into a Pokeball. "You're pretty good."

"Not really, I think it was a lot of luck," Usagi said, rubbing Titan's head as the Pokémon swam close. "And a hard working Pokémon."

"Ok, well take this one on for size," Misty said as she picked out another Pokeball. "Go Starmie!"

The Pokeball landed on the floating platform, releasing the Pokémon inside with a flash of red.

"Pys... duck?" Psyduck stood on the platform, his hands pressed against the sides of his head.

"Psyduck!" Misty said. "How... how did your Pokeball get in with the rest? Damn it, you can't be here," she pointed the Pokeball at her Pokémon to call him back.

"Wait!" Gary said as he ran forward. "You said this was a two-on-two match, you call that Pokémon back and you forfeit the match which means Usagi wins." Misty blinked then started to curse under her breath, Gary was right she was painted into a corner.

"Fine," Misty said. Usagi gave Gary a confused look who just shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the rules," He said.

"Meowth," Chip rushed forward and jumped off the platform to the floating ones below. "Owth!"

"You want to battle Chip?" Usagi asked. Chip looked over his shoulder and nodded once. "Ok I guess, Titan you did great. Return," Titan glowed red as the light from the Pokeball engulfed the red Pokémon then was drawn into the Pokeball. Misty sighed, she loved her Psyduck but she hated battling with him in gym battles. Or any other sort of battles, she wished he would evolve already.

"Psyduck, use Psychic," Misty said.

"Duck?" Psyduck turned against to look at Misty, his head tilted to the side. Misty sighed, a mushroom shaped cloud escaping from her mouth. Usagi and Chip shared a look of confusion.

"Errr... Ok, Chip use Tackle!"

"Meowth!"

"Wait a minute, Meowths can't use-" Misty started to say then her mouth dropped open as Chip jumped from his floating platform to the one Psyduck was on, tackling the duck like Pokémon like he was a line backer. Gary was surprised as Misty, as far as he knew Meowth couldn't use that move. (7)

"Psy-yi-yi!" Psyduck said in pain, wobbling as he stood up with a hand pressed to one side of his head.

"Ok, now use Fury Swipes!" Usagi called.

"Damn it, Psyduck use Disable," Misty called to Psyduck. Psyduck looked at Chip as the Meowth popped up in front of him with light glinting off of Chip's claws.

"Meowth-owth-owth-owth-owth!" Chip chanted as he swung his front paws scratching Psyduck up with his sharp claws as he used Fury Swipes.

Psyduck took the abuse standing still for a few seconds when Chip's attack ended. Then he straightened up, his eyes glowing white.

"Finally," Misty muttered to herself. "Psyduck, use Confusion!"

"Psy-DUCK!" Psyduck sent out psychic mind waves at Chip who staggered under the attack, a confused look crossing his face.

"Chip!" Usagi yelled loudly, “snap out of it and use Water Pulse!" Chip shook his head, his paws pressed to his forehead on either side of his chipped gold charm.

"Me-owth!" Chip yelled, his mouth open wide as he sent a ring of water into Psyduck's face. At the close rang Chip was when he executed his attack, it hit Psyduck full force, sending the psychic duck flying.

"Psy-yi-yi," Psyduck said after he landed into a heap into the floor. The Pokémon tried to stand up but the attack had been too much and he had lost control of his powers once again.

"Oh no, Psyduck!" Misty said then sighed. "Return.... Wow, you really gave us a good run. I think you've got more than luck."

"Meowth!" Chip ran and jumped over the platforms on the water to the edge of the pool, jumping into Usagi's arms. "Owth."

"Oh good job Chip," Usagi praised. Misty walked around to the other side of the pool, grabbing one of Usagi's hands.

"Well here you go, you earned the Cascade Badge," Misty said as she placed the water droplet shaped badge in Usagi's hand. "So you guys heading to Vermillion City next?"

"We'll head that way, but it will take a while walking," Gary said as he joined them, he was proud of Usagi and her Pokémon.

"Let me give you a word of warning, Lt. Surge, the gym leader at Vermillion City's gym, is tough," Misty said. "Just be prepared when you go up against him."

"Sure, thanks for the warning," Usagi said with a nod and a smile.

"Well good luck then," Misty said then turned to Gary. "And if you see Ash anytime soon... tell him I said hello will you?"

"Sure thing Misty, smell ya later!" Gary said over his shoulder as he and Usagi left.

"Ugh, boys," Misty said with a laugh and a shake of her head.

***

It was late afternoon when the Buizel came around.

"Zeellll," He sat up, pressing a paw to his head.

"Hey there little guy," Brock said as he knelt down beside the Pokémon.

"Buizel!" Buizel yelled and tried to scrabble backwards away from Brock. "Buuuii," The Pokémon groaned and wrapped his paw around his still sore shoulders.

"Calm down," Mamoru said in a soothing tone. "We're not going to hurt you; we're just trying to help." Mamoru made sure his movements were slow and that the Buizel could see his hands at all time, treating the water type like a real world frighten animal. The same type of movements and soothing tone helped him get close enough to frighten or abused children when he was assigned at the children's ward at the hospital.

Mamoru held his hands close, palm flat and upward toward the Pokémon. The Buizel sniffed it slightly, but made no further moves to let the man get closer nor did it try to get away from the two humans which was something of a win.

"Here, try to get it to eat something," Brock suggested, pouring a little food into Mamoru's hand. "I bet it's starving."

Mamoru held out the food to the Buizel, holding his breath of the otter-like Pokémon sniffed at the offering. The Pokémon's stomach growled, he hadn't eaten in a while since no Pokémon was allowed to eat before the boss Pokémon, the Feraligatr back in the lagoon, was fed first. Buizel was so hungry that he snatched a paw full of food out of Mamoru's hand and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Zel..zel..zel.."

"It was hungry," Mamoru agreed as he laid the rest of the food on the ground in front of the Buizel and slowly backed away. The Buizel watched him move, relaxing slightly.

"He, the Buizel is a he," Brock said as he studied the Pokémon. "He mustn't have eaten in a long time. I bet that Feraligatr had something to do with that."

"You think that Pokémon is keeping all the others from eating?" Mamoru asked.

"It could be," Brock said, rubbing his chin in through. "I say that it is, at least it's not letting the others eat until after it's fed. This Buizel wasn't the only one that looked like it was starving."

"Well can't something be done for them?" Mamoru asked he felt bad for the strange creatures.

As Mamoru and Brock talked, the Buizel listened in on them in amazement. He couldn't believe he hadn't been stuffed in one of those weird balls like prisons that other Pokémon were captured in. Buizel sighed softly and stuffed another piece of food in his mouth; life hadn't always been like this for him.

When he was a little Buizel his mother, a beautiful graceful Floatzel, had been captured by a human. Buizel didn't know who his father was, his mother described him as a handsome strong Floatzel she met one time along the river banks. With no other family to take care of him, Buizel had wondered around lost and alone. Then one rainy afternoon Buizel had been cornered by an Ekans and before the snake Pokémon could gobble him up, he had been saved by a Croconaw.

The Croconaw took him back to the lagoon that he called home now, it had been filled with Pokémon like himself. Their parents had been taken by humans or in some cases been killed leaving them alone in the world. The Croconaw had acted as their new parent taking care of them and protecting the lagoon where they all lived from any Pokémon that wanted to do the others harm or from Humans looking to capture them. While a bit gruff around the edges, Croconaw had been very kind.

Then one day it changed, Croconaw evolved into Feraligatr and from then on the Pokémon went from caring big brother to a ruthless boss who ordered them around. Buizel and the others were too afraid to stand up to him so they were forced to do everything Feraligatr told them to do. All of them figured that they were still safer with the Feraligatr protecting them than letting the Humans get them.

The most important job everyone had was to gather food for Feraligatr to eat otherwise no one got to eat. Those who didn't gather enough were punished like he was today. Buizel looked over at the two humans again, he couldn't believe they hadn't captured him. They had healed his wounds and fed him but otherwise didn't do anything to him. He watched as a little Budew jumped onto one the dark hair Human's knee who smiled and gently petted the plant Pokémon and offer her a piece of food.

The other Human was also talking to a Pokémon, a large Croagunk who looked just as content to be there. Did those two really like their captors? Buizel was starting to wonder if all the horror stories Croconaw then later Feraligatr told were true. Buizel got up and walked a little bit away to the top of a nearby hill. Sitting at the top he sat down and stared out into the surrounding area.

Mamoru watched the Pokémon for a few minutes then looked at Brock.

"Maybe he needs to think," Brock said with a shrug. "We can't stop him from leaving, Buizel is mostly healed and he's a wild Pokémon. Unless you want to catch him, he's free to go."

"Catch him?" Mamoru repeated.

"Yeah you know, in Pokeballs," Brock said pointing at the shrunken red and white ball at his waist. "I'm not looking to capture any other Pokémon while I'm training and I mostly train rock types."

On the hill Buizel saw other trainers, many of them had at least one of their captured Pokémon out and for the most part the Pokémon looked.... happy. Happy to be with their humans. He could see a couple that didn't seem too thrilled with their lot in life but all the others Buizel could see weren't. Feraligatr had to be wrong... didn't he?

***

Author note: This is the last chapter for a bit. I'm not abandoning the fic, I'm just taking a short hiatus from this and the rest of my stories so I can go back over all the pervious chapters to give them a tune up. This break will be nowhere near as long as the one I had when I had that bad case of writer's block. As soon as I'm done fixing the older chapters I'll go right back to writing.

I'm also trying to hold out on coming up with new attacks for the rest of the scouts until I see what they do in the new season for the Sailor Moon Anniversary, I suck at coming up with attacks.

(1) She's the scout of time, she had to know that they were coming over.

(2) There have been animals seen in the anime and the mangas. Not very often but it does happen so I find it more likely that they would get the beef from cows and not Miltanks and Tauroses.

(3) These towns are from the anime.

(4) In the newer games you run into Pokémon healers in the wild all the time, I think that is sorta what Brock is doing.

(5) In the original Japanese version the Squad threatens to kill Misty/Kasumi but in the American version it was changed to them threatening to dye Misty's hair since it was less violent.

(6) A lot of cities in the Pokémon series look like a cross between American and Japanese, at least in the earlier animes. So why not a Waffle House.

(7) This is completely my fault, way back in like the second or third chapter the first attack Usagi ever had Chip the Meowth use was Tackle when I started this fic about 4/5 years ago and I thought Meowths could use tackle. Meowths first move it learns is Scratch, not tackle, but I've already stated that Chip can use tackle so let's just say Chip is an odd ball Meowth.

Edit 5-12-14: Ok, since a lot of reviewers voiced that they don't like Usagi and Mamoru together, I've created a poll for all of you to vote on whether to keep them a couple or not. This is up to all of you, your voices shall be heard! So you can either vote on my poll on ff.net or just leave me a message in comments (for the other sites where this is posted).

Edit 8-11-14: Nothing changed story wise, just cleaned up a bit.