In A Pinch For Battle

"Quite trying to sound tough, half-pint. Didn't I just tell you I can't take any risks? You won't get any meaningful information from me." He reared his hand back, preparing to throw. "Now then, hold still. This is your last chance."

A Golbat appeared in the air before them. Zubat's Evolved form.

Looking around the room, Cinder realized that there was a lot more space here than most of the tunnels. There should be enough for Starly to comfortably fly around… and Hercule could fight too.

The Hercule appeared in front of him. The tadpole pokemon nodded uneasily upon seeing their company.

Beside him, Korrina released the rest of her team.

Cinder felt his heart racing as the rest of the grunts sprang into action, filling the room with Zubat.

...

Outside of Mt. Moon, the sky was becoming engulfed in gray clouds, a light drizzle beginning to descend from the sky as a large group made their way out of the Pokemon Center on the other side.

Cerulean City was just a distance away from that Center.

About twenty adults in Indigo League uniforms formed the group as they gathered near the entrance to the mountain. Their facial expressions were hardened, but clear. An air of professionalism to them as they prepared to enter it.

At the front of the group was a tall, young woman with long silverish hair. The Weavile at her side was running its claws together in an absentminded manner, as though they weren't even on a mission.

The woman gazed into the entrance to the caverns for a brief moment before turning to her group.

"We are lucky that one of Team Rocket's grunts leaked this operation to us during interrogation." She sighed. "They will be heading deep into the tunnels. We'll move quickly, but with the number of trainers likely in the mountain we'll probably be dealing with a hostage situation."

Her face was a bit grim. She certainly wasn't the most serious person compared to her peers, but knowing the potential stakes of the mission was fairly easy for her.

She was so strong as a trainer, that it was sometimes easy to forget that she was younger than everyone in the squad that she was leading today. They certainly didn't look at her in such a way. To them, she was a powerful trainer beyond description, an absolute terror to go up against or even witness. And for those reasons, her age was barely even considered by those who answered to her and her orders. An irrelevant factor compared to everything else about her.

No different from any other member of the Elite Four.

"Do we know exactly where we are going, Karen?" Spoke one of the League Trainer. His voice conveyed nothing but obedience. Absolute recognition of the young woman's much earned ranking.

Karen nodded. "We have our instructions for how to get to the moonstone. With any luck, we can take the quickest path to the moonstone and intercept Team Rocket before they can reach it. Either way, we'll need to move swiftly." With that, she turned around, focusing all of her attention on the entrance to the tunnel in front of her as her silverish hair swayed with her motions. Weavile did the same. The soldiers all prepared themselves without any comments. "It's time."

....

Cinder and Korrina had come to Mt. Moon with the simple goal of traveling through the tunnels to reach the other side and move on to Cerulean City.

Things rarely go as planned, especially for trainers, but neither rookie could have predicted the extent to which their travels had blatantly gone off the rails.

The 'setback' that they had been faced with wasn't a simple detour, an injury suffered by a teammate, or even just getting lost normally.

They HAD gotten lost, but it was because of the real setback: Team Rocket.

And in the chaos, they had both found themselves in the makeshift hideout that the terrorists had set up within the caverns of the mountain.

Things almost never go as planned, but in this case, no plan in the world could have prepared the duo for today's current events.

Starly ducked under Golbat's Steel Wing as Com and the rest of the grunts barked orders at the numerous bats flying through the air in the room.

Things had devolved into chaos the moment the battle had begun, with Starly's Whirlwind doing well to keep the bats at bay, while Hercule's Ice Beam provided additional backup that took advantage of their inherent weakness to ice-type moves.

Unfortunately, the bats weren't all that needed to be contended with. The grunts had taken to releasing multiple Poochyena to cleverly duck under the aerial combat, leaving Storm, Hercule, Alpha, and Aiz(Mienfoo) to defend their trainers, with Hero(Hawlucha) and Talon(Spearow) pitching in whenever he wasn't providing additional backup for Starly (who was contending with at least a multiple foes at once).

Com, despite the blatant advantage in numbers, was getting frustrated with the lack of progress. Cinder wasn't counting on that continuing, however. Starly could only use Whirlwind for so long, after all.

The Zubat were hardly an individual threat to her or Hercule, nor were the Poochyena to the rest of the team. However, there was a very large number of each. Starly still fared great despite that, and the rest of the team was able to successfully split their efforts, but Com's Golbat was a completely different story. It was keeping pace with Starly, and Starly couldn't focus all of her efforts solely on it in order to give it the attention that she needed to be able to give it, due to the rest of the Zubat constantly preoccupying her, despite the more developed constitution the avian has, it was still a first-staged pokemon, Starly.

A change in strategy would be a blatant necessity in making it out in one piece. But it was hard to come up with any sort of plans in the current state of the battle that Cinder and Korrina found themselves in, and the constant screeches of the bats certainly wasn't helping either rookie's inner concentration.

Cinder let out a startled yelp as a Poochyena tried to slip through and leap at him, only for an angry Storm to smash it aside with a powerful Zap Tail to the jaw. Above them, A Zubat made its way down towards Korrina, only to be met with an Vacuum Wave from an equally pissed off Alpha(Riolu).

Team Rocket was not backing down on their offensive, and so far, all they could do in response was defend.

While watching Hercule blast away another Poochyena with a less mastered Hydro Pump, Cinder did his absolute best to tune out the chaotic noise of the battle, confident that his and Korrina's pokemon would be able to keep them safe while he attempted to come up with a plan.

But he still found it to be next to impossible, because even with his attempts to drown out the noise with his inner thoughts, his apprehension still dominated his brain. There was practically no escape from it.

No matter what he did, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop himself from remembering that he and Korrina were both being targeted by a terrorist organization.

It was why he had to focus. Because of the sheer stakes in a battle that they could not afford to lose. But the knowledge of those same exact stakes prevented him from being able to focus on the exact focus that he so desperately needed in order for them to win.

He needed to focus, or else they'll all probably die. But that same exact fear of death prevented him from thinking. Prevented him from-

"CINDER!"

Cinder screamed out of his thoughts as he suddenly ducked under a leaping Poochyena that nearly sunk its teeth into his face. His canine assailant was immediately smacked away by a powerful Focus Punch from an enraged Storm, nearly splitting the pitiful pokemon in half from the sheer impact.

Korrina's terrified scream had saved his life.

Above them, Starly swatted away a trio of Zubat with a series of powerful Steel Wings that sent the now unconscious bats crashing down to the ground. Cinder couldn't help himself but marvel, Starly was already so powerful, how much would she become if she evolved or even trigger her 'Reckless' ability?

Com grumbled. "Stubborn brats."

"Get used to it, asshole/thug!" Cinder and Korrina fired back pettily.

Unfazed, Com turned his attention to Golbat. "Golbat, Air Cutter!"

Golbat complied.

The boy grimaced at the mention of the move. Now Team Rocket was the one changing up their tactics, before they had a chance to do so themselves.

Starly glared at her attacker as Golbat executed the move immediately.

Smacking away yet another Poochyena with iron Tail, Storm's attention was briefly turned upwards, Starly springing into action, hoping to avoid the attack that was currently coming after her.

Meanwhile, the Zubat in front of Starly parted in an effort to not get hit.

Golbat had taken aim at Cinder's powerful feathered friend with noticeable speed.

The wind that Starly was suddenly finding traveling towards her was weaponized, but not in the same way as her signature Whirlwind move. Air Cutter was something different.

When this move was used, the wind itself that the technique produced was sharp. Quite literally like blades made out of wind. Cinder had no idea how the move actually worked or functioned, but he knew that much about the move.

While Whirlwind was a good move to use for blasting away things, Air Cutter was designed to slice through opponents to take them out.

Golbat was howling viciously as it flapped its wings with vigor, sending as much sharp, blade-like wind towards Starly as possible.

The Starly mmediately took action in avoiding the technique, maneuvering through the air.

One blade like gust nearly hit Cinder, who sidestepped away in a frenzy to avoid being sliced. Another nearly hit Hercule, who had erected a ice boulder with Ice Beam to defend himself with. Yet another still almost hit Korrina, who, much like Cinder, avoided it frantically.

Starly cried out angrily, launching a Air Slash in Golbat's direction in retaliation. Golbat sailed upwards to avoid the attack, but suddenly found Starly's wings that was shrouded with metallic hue meeting with its body as she charged upwards into him with Steel Wing.

The remaining Zubat that had previously moved to avoid Golbat's Air Cutter were now charging towards Starly at once, the majority of them opening their mouths wide as their teeth glowed purple.

With her assailants coming from all directions, Starly's had no means of counter attacking them all at once. But the Starly's attackers were all left bewildered as she suddenly split into four.

Taking advantage of the brief confusion, the Starly bolted upwards, her three clones not being able to move along with her, and slammed a metallic wing into one of the shocked Zubat in her path. As the bat was sent into free fall, knocked out on impact from the forceful blow, Golbat attempted to pursue Starly, only to be forced to dodge to the side as a Wing Attack from Talon(Spearow) almost hit it.

Although Storm had just enough time to fire the Thunder Shock, the Poochyena immediately made themselves known again, but to the young sheep's luck, Hercule had skidd towards him with Ice Beam and erected firing a point blank Bubble Beam at the lunging Poochyena, sending it tumbling back to its friends.

As a few of the grunts released more Zubat, Starly, now aided with Hero(Hawlucha), and Talon(Spearow) they attempted to take advantage of Golbat's distraction with a Steel Wing and series of attack moves, but as they charged forward, Golbat raised a metallic wing of its own. The leading Slarly's momentum sent Golbat flying through the air before the opponent righted itself, but no harm was done by either side. Unfortunately for the opponent, a Submission and Wing Attack quickly followed up in succession, making the Golbat groaning in pain.

"Cinder.." The gray-haired teenager turned to Korrina as Starly fired a follow up Air Slash, which Golbat dodged in time. The blond haired girl was glancing at him from the corner of her eye, but did not turn her head, her vision divided between him and the two Poochyena advancing towards her.

Suddenly realizing that he needed to be paying attention himself, Cinder turned his head away from Korrina, looking at her from the corner of his eye as well.

"I think I might have a plan." He said as Alpha(Riolu) and Aiz(Mienfoo) blasted away her area's attackers. "They seem to be running low on Poochyena, but there's still more Zubat up there." He gestured towards the reinforcements that the soldiers had sent out. Cinder assumed tha tthey hadn't sent them all out at once because they feared that crowding the room too much would limit their flight ability. "We need to get Hercule on Starly's back. His Ice Beam can be aimed better up there. Not to mention that with Whirlwind, it would be like a makeshift Icy Wind. I figured that my Starly's big frame could lift a pokemon as light as Hercule."

Korrina nodded in understanding. Looking up at her friend's feathered friend, she cupped her hands to make her pokemon stall time. "Hero(Hawlucha), Talon(Spearow) assist Starly from getting back."

"Good." Cinder nodded and does his part of the job. "Starly! Pull back and use Whirlwind! Then come down here quickly!"

Somewhat surprised by the order, Starly complied nonetheless. Backing away to ensure that all of her opponents were in the blast zone and not to implicate her feathered allies, she flapped her wings with all of the fury that she could muster, the powerful gale of wind forcing her adversaries backwards.

Golbat responded with an Air Cutter aimed solely for the Starly, but Hero and Talon was already there, intercepting the opponent's attacks with their own as Starly dove downwards, staying on the ground just long enough for Hercule to climb onto her back, before returning to the air.

"Ice Beam, Hercule then jump off and Starly use Whirlwind!" Cinder shouted upwards with cupped hands.

Complying, Hercule concentrated and allowed the frozen arcs of beams to sail across the field while free falling. Feeling the cold air up close made Starly wince unpleasantly, but she powered through the pain to allow Hercule to continue, when the water-type got off her back, she quickly began flapping her wings madly with Whirlwind.

Multiple blasts of cold air were fired as the bats circled around Starly and Hercule with perfect coordination. Although some were hit, and sent falling to the ground, many still eluded the tadpole's attacks, dodging the icy gusts that were fired in their direction. Hercule got back quickly on the ground and returned to his position.

Golbat made a bold move and charged head on towards the trio of birds, cloaked in Aerial Ace as it took aim solely at Starly with a Steel Wing. Although Starly blocked the fast approaching assailant with a Steel Wing of her own, the momentum from Aerial Ace carried Golbat forward still, knocking Starly off balance.

Cinder was about to cry out when Starly suddenly let loose a series of small, but powerful, gusts of wind, flapping her wings towards the ground to push herself upwards with the gales that she created. Golbat and the squadron of Zubat all descended downwards towards the Starly with purple teeth ready to sink into their target, but were all forced to scatter as an upwards Ice Beam from Hercule threatened to collide with them.

Cinder inwardly grunted. They were elusive, but…

This gave him an idea.

*So guys, the release of chapters per day, as of now, will depend on the Power Stone Ranking of this Fanfiction.

° Top <150 - A chapter everyday, except Sunday.

° Top <70 - Two chapters per day, except Sunday.

° Top <25 - Three chapters per day, except Sunday.

° Top <3 - Four chapters per day, except Saturday and Sunday. (If you think I am bluffing, you can check that I had even dropped 5 chapters in one day.)

*So if you enjoyed reading it thus far and had some spare Power Stones. Gimme those rocks ^=^*