Ash found the three princes different in character. Gary was boastful. Brock had a responsible, down-to-earth frame of mind. Timmy was meeker and quieter, although physically he looked strong enough. Brock was talking about being crown prince, the extra responsibilities, the training for the throne, and the tension between the power waiting for him but the cost involved in reaching it, namely, the death of his beloved father. Gary fidgeted uncomfortably.
It seemed strange to Ash that two kingdoms sent their crown princes on a mission that was potentially dangerous. There must have been more to the mission than was obvious for both kingdoms. Perhaps Gary's estimate of what the mission was really about was right. Whatever the situation, Ash, a peasant and a commoner, was not privy to everyone's real motives.
Once they neared Mount Moon, a hush fell on the group. Ash was lost in the wonder of the spectacle, a single tall cone stretching into the heaverns. On wintry mornings it was said to be an eerie sight as it solidified out of thinning mist.
Were it not for the maze of tunnels inside it, Cerulean Kingdom would be virtually inaccessible. The only other possibility would have been to carve out a road from the west end of the foot, rising to the saddle between it and the Viridian Range in the east, and sloping back down to the west on the other side. Such a road would have been narrow and treacherous. So the tunnels it was.
They reached the entrance around noon. The stopped to rest the tauros and to have a drink and a bite. After their break, the tauros and carts were tied together and the people went on foot. They split into two groups, one leading the convoy and one tailing it, each carrying a couple of torches.
At the lead, Ash held a torch. Pikachu rode in his now otherwise empty back sack, peering out curiously at the strange new environment. Timmy walked next to him.
"So what do you do for work, Ash?"
"I work on a farm, grow crops, your highness."
"Hey, it's not a formal occasion—just call me Timmy."
"As you wish... Timmy."
"Do you get any spare time?"
"I get to hang out at The Soaring Spearow—that's a tavern. Oh, and I have fighting lessons. We sometimes spar for fun."
"Hey, you fight? What are your favourite moves?"
"Have you learnt to fight too, Timmy?"
"Pretty much had to. And swordfight. And monster train. But I enjoy fighting the most."
Having made a connection, the two youths began to chat. Being teenagers, they soon forgot the world around them and were lost in conversation. Being young and strong, they walked ahead at a good pace. After some time, they were separated from the others and didn't even realize.
Suddenly the tunnel narrowed.
"Hey," said Timmy, "where are we?"
Ash looked ahead. "I don't think the carts will fit through there. Hey, where are they? We must've walked ahead."
"Ash, were you following the markings?"
"Markings? I was just following you, Timmy."
"And I was following you... We've taken the wrong path. Let's go back."
They turned back, planning to retrace their steps. They continued for some distance, but their plan hit a snag: the tunnel forked. Ash held the torch in one tunnel, and then the other. It got worse: the second tunnel also forked.
"Obviously we came through one of those three tunnels," said Timmy, "but how do we work out which one?"
"Can't we try them one by one?"
"People have been lost in these tunnels and have never been seen again—except sometimes when they've found their skeletons. Ash, once that torch runs out, we've had it."
Ash felt a sinking feeling. After all he had overcome in the last few days—facing Gary, battling bloodthirsty robbers, seduction by a prostitute and a night in the rain—for it all to end by him dying of thirst in the belly of a cold, dark mountain, it seemed humiliating and unfair.
"So if we sit here and do nothing, we'll die right?" said Ash.
"What do you suggest?"
"If we try one of the three tunnels, then we'll have a fighting chance."
Timmy couldn't refute Ash's logic. "Let's try the first one."
Timmy took the torch and led the way down the first tunnel. Afte five minutes, the path began to slope down. A few metres further and the descent was very steep.
"I don't remember coming uphill," said Ash.
"Right. Let's go back and try number two."
To vent his frustration at having come the wrong way, Ash kicked a stone into the dark depths of the cave. It clattered loudly, the sound continuing to echo even after the stone had stopped moving. No, that wasn't an echo. It was getting louder. An enormous noise arose, like the squawk of a thousand spearow crossed with the roar of a stampede of a tauros herd. They felt a rush of wind. A cave full of flying monsters flew towards them and knocked them to the ground.
Ash fell roughly. He had to cover his ears to protect himself from the noise. Pikachu's frightened squeals were drowned in the flutter of a hundred pairs of wings. Timmy dropped the torch. It rolled away and went out. Who could have known that the caves of Mount Moon were home to monsters!
Ash felt like an age had past by the time the last monster fluttered over him. He sat up onto his knees and opened his eyes. They might as well have been shut.
"Timmy?"
"I'm here, Ash. Sorry, I dropped the torch."
Ash felt around for Pikachu.
"Pikachu?" he said softly.
No answer. A surge of fear clawed his insides.
"Pikachu? Where are you?" he called out.
"Pikapi!" came a reply.
Ash tried to crawl in the direction of its voice. It was downhill. Pikachu must have fallen.
"Ash, worry about ourselves first."
"This morning you guys taught me that you and your monster have to be a team. Pikachu," he cried out, "keep calling me!"
"Piiikaaa!" it replied.
Ash inched his way down the slope. It was difficult not to slip on the loose rubble and go tumbling down. Pikachu must have done just that. What if it was hurt? He had to find him.
Then Pikachu had the bright idea of sparking. It fired off a flash. It blinded Ash—his eyes had become completely dilated in the dark.
"Pikachu, keep trying!"
"Pikachu?" it queried.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
That was a word it understood. It fired off another flash, a longer one. Ash's eyes had adjusted. He glimpsed as much as he could of his surroundings and of Pikachu's location. Pikachu also caught sight of Ash. It crawled back up, sparking every step to help itself find its way.
"Pikapi!" it called as Ash felt it embrace him. It felt good.
"Ash!" called out Timmy. "I've found the torch."
"Good."
"Uhh... maybe not so good."
"Why not?"
"I've got no way to light it."
A depressed silence fell upon them. Then Ash had an idea.
"I've heard that lightning can set trees on fire. Dont know if it's true, though."
"Are you expecting a thunderstorm inside a cave?"
"What about Pikachu's thunderbolt?"
It took a bit of arranging, but by propping the torch against a boulder, they managed to get Pikachu to light it without frying someone holding it.
Ash held up the torch and looked around. It failed to illuminate very far. The cave was huge. That was obvious now, Ash thought, given how many of those noisy flying monsters were in here before.
The torch's fuel was starting to run low. They hurred back to the fork as fast as they could manage without tripping and tried the second tunnel.
It wasn't long before they heard voices, their names being called. "We're here!" they shouted back. In a few minutes, they were reunited with Gary and one of Rothby's men.
"We reached the end of the tunel and we didn't see you," said the man, "so his highness Gary and I turned back to look for you."
"How did you know where we were?" asked Timmy.
"We saw Zubat coming out of a side tunnel," said Gary. "We had no other clues. We thought maybe you disturbed them."
"I'd say you're both very fortunate," said the other man. "Souls have been lost in here."
They walked silently. Their mission might have been delayed a couple of hours, but it had not faltered. Ash was not sure whether to praise himself for yet another challenge overcome, or to chide himself for getting them lost. At least he had learnt a valuable lesson in teamwork with Pikachu. He could easily say he loved the little yellow monster. Somehow, he knew the feeling was mutual.
