The road out of Cerulean led them west, toward the jagged rise of Mt. Moon. Unlike the sunny routes behind them, the mountain loomed as a silhouette of dark stone, its craggy peaks biting into the night sky. Mist curled along the ground, and the faint shimmer of stars above seemed dimmer here.
Ash walked ahead, humming happily as he admired his new badge pinned proudly on his vest. Pikachu rode on his shoulder, tail flicking contentedly.
"We're getting closer to Vermilion!" Ash cheered.
Brock, more practical, glanced at the dark trail. "First we cross Mt. Moon. Watch your step. It's easy to get lost in those tunnels."
Misty shivered slightly, hugging her arms. "It already feels creepy. I don't like caves."
Ren, trailing behind with Ghastly drifting like a wisp above his shoulder, was silent. His notebook was open again, the tip of his pen scratching swiftly.
Mt. Moon. Wild population: Zubat swarms, Clefairy migratory cluster. Fossils buried within, protected by superstition. Canon disruption imminent: Team Rocket ambush.
He underlined the last note twice.
Cael glanced over his shoulder, smirking. "Don't tell me you've got the whole cave memorized, too."
Ren didn't look up. "Patterns repeat. History repeats. They will strike here."
"Who will?" Misty asked, uneasy.
Ren's reply was flat: "Shadows."
Ghastly cackled in eerie affirmation.
The entrance to Mt. Moon gaped like a beast's maw, stone teeth jagged, breath cold. The group lit lanterns from Brock's pack, their light casting narrow cones through the damp air. The smell of wet earth filled their noses, mixed with faint guano from Zubat overhead.
Ash cringed as a Zubat swooped past. "Ack! These things are everywhere!"
Pikachu hissed, sparks flashing as he swatted one away with his tail.
Ren kept pace near the back, his eyes darting to every branching tunnel. In his mind, the map was already laid out he had walked these caverns before, not with his feet, but through memory of another life. He could sense the fork where the Zubat swarm always attacked, the chamber where Clefairy danced under moonlight, and the point where shadows in black uniforms would step from the dark.
He whispered softly to Ghastly: "Get ready."
It came just as he predicted.
Halfway through a wide cavern, where glowing crystals jutted from the walls like spears of light, laughter echoed.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
The voices rang with theatrical flourish.
From the shadows emerged two figures in white uniforms, the letter R bold and red upon their chests. Jessie flicked her long magenta hair back dramatically. James posed with his rose. Between them, Meowth padded forward with a sharp grin.
"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, fists tightening.
"That's right!" Jessie declared. "We're here for rare Pokémon!"
"Especially Pikachu," James added with a hungry smile.
"Hand it over, twerps!" Meowth hissed.
Ash bristled. "No way!"
Misty gasped. "They want Pikachu?!"
Brock stepped forward. "We won't let you take him!"
Ren's expression didn't change. He simply closed his notebook with a snap. "As predicted."
Cael raised a brow. "You knew?"
Ren's voice was low, calm, and eerie. "The shadows move by script. They're nothing but a loop."
Jessie blinked, thrown off. "What's he babbling about?"
James frowned. "Who cares? Let's just grab the Pikachu!"
Jessie and James flung Poké Balls. "Ekans, go!" "Koffing, go!"
The serpent and smog Pokémon hissed and cackled, slithering forward menacingly.
Ash readied Pikachu, but Ren raised a hand. "Stand back."
Ash blinked. "Huh?"
Ren's eyes glowed faintly in the lantern light. "These shadows are mine."
He stepped forward, Ghastly swirling with black mist that spread unnaturally fast across the cavern floor. It pooled like spilled ink, swallowing light, bending edges of stone.
Jessie recoiled. "What's happening?!"
"An illusion," James gasped.
The cavern walls seemed to close in, endless rows of Zubat eyes glowing red, shadows lengthening like claws reaching for the intruders.
Meowth screeched. "W-what is this?!"
Ren's voice carried through the mist, deep and resonant, far older than his years. "Leave this place… or be devoured."
Ekans hissed nervously, recoiling from phantom fangs in the dark. Koffing spun wildly, its gas dissipating into the ghostly fog.
Jessie shouted, "Don't fall for it, they're tricks!"
But her own voice quavered. The illusions pressed closer, each whisper in the darkness like hundreds of unseen ghosts.
James panicked first. "I-I think we should retreat!"
Jessie scowled. "Team Rocket doesn't run from… AHHH!" She yelped as phantom claws swiped inches from her face.
That broke them. "We're blasting off again!!!" Jessie, James, and Meowth fled screaming into the tunnels, their echoes fading into the mountain.
The illusions faded with them. The cavern returned to normal only Ghastly's laughter lingering, eerie and victorious.
Ash's jaw dropped. "Ren… that was incredible!"
Misty's eyes widened. "You didn't even attack… you just… scared them off!"
Ren calmly reopened his notebook. "Ghosts do not fight head-on. They mislead. Distract. Break willpower." He wrote a few quick lines. Illusion deployment successful. Fear is a weapon.
Cael crossed her arms. "…Creepy. But effective."
Her eyes softened just a fraction, though. He's more dangerous than he looks.
Further into the cavern, they stumbled upon a chamber glowing with moonlight filtering through cracks above. Strange stones glittered in the glow, fossils embedded in the rock walls.
Brock gasped softly. "The legendary fossils of Mt. Moon… Kabuto, Omanyte, Aerodactyl… It's real."
Ash reached forward, awestruck. "So cool!"
But Ren stepped closer with unusual care. He pressed a hand to the stone, his expression unreadable.
"In another time… another life… scientists will use these to recreate the past. They'll awaken things meant to stay buried."
The others looked at him strangely. Misty frowned. "How would you know that?"
Ren's eyes flicked toward her, shadows crossing them. "I just… know."
That night, they rested at the Pokémon Center near the base of the mountain. Ash was exhausted, Misty still muttered about "ghost tricks," and Brock tended to their Pokémon.
Ren, however, sat at a terminal, quietly typing. Ghastly hovered above, watching with luminous eyes.
He uploaded his notes meticulous diagrams of Mt. Moon's tunnels, behavioral predictions of Zubat and Clefairy migrations, even sketches of fossil formations. He attached a report on how fear manipulation affects battle outcomes, citing his encounter with Team Rocket as "field data."
When he hit send, the message pinged across the region landing on Professor Oak's desk in Pallet Town.
In his lab, Professor Oak scrolled through Ren's report, his brows furrowing deeper with every page.
"These… these aren't the scribbles of a beginner," Oak whispered. "This is structured research. Insightful. Even predictive."
His gaze lingered on Ren's notes about evolutionary potential: Eevee may evolve further beyond the current three pathways. Hypotheses: Grass, Ice, Dark, Psychic, Fairy.
Oak leaned back in his chair, stunned. "This boy… his intellect… It's like mine when I was young."
For the first time, the seasoned professor felt a flicker of unease.
"Ren Silen," he murmured, "just what are you thinking?"
Back at the Pokémon Center, Ren closed the terminal and leaned back in his chair. The faintest smile touched his lips.
"The shadows move as expected," he whispered.
Ghastly chuckled, drifting closer.
But deep in the reflection of the window beside him, for a fleeting moment, a second shadow stood faint glowing eyes, round and unblinking.
Watching.
Ren's pen stilled in his hand. He did not move, did not blink. Only whispered:
"…Soon."
The shadow blinked out.
And the mountain slept.