So It Started In A Cave

The sound of fingers tap tap tapping on the keyboard of a PokeTek joined the rustling of grass under a Rattata’s foot and the hoots of nearby Pidgey. Harry dragged his finger up the screen. The screen displayed a graphic of the message folding up into a paper crane and flying off to two different spots on the world map. The time zones between them made communication slower than ever, but Harry knew Ron and Hermione’s return messages would be waiting in his inbox by the time he got to Cerulean City. 

It had only been three weeks since the trio split up, going their separate ways to mourn and recover as they needed individually. One thing they’d learned quickly: they could not handle the most recent trauma and stay friends. They needed a break, space to process, time to forget or forgive. They said little of it allowed, though they all knew. Harry used an excuse he’d long thought of giving-long before the incident--being a third wheel majorly sucked. 

Honestly, traveling alone soothed something he’d ignored for years, a small voice in his head that only got louder since confronting death in the bowels of Johto’s main Team Rocket base. He really had needed to get away from his friends and pursue something new. It comforted him, not having to consult others to make decisions, or to feel responsible for their well-being. He only needed to protect himself, which was a relief. 

On his own he explored Viridian Forest again without a thought about getting to the next town in time for a lecture Hermione wanted to attend or some broadcasted Pokemon Contest Ron needed to see right that second. It was the first place that came to mind when his mom asked where he’d go next, and after he blurted it out on a video call with her he couldn’t think of a reason not to actually do it. For two weeks, Harry investigated every nook and cranny previously left undiscovered. He had to admit that camping out in the forest without a constant background of sniping and not-so-subtle excuses to sneak off and make out coming from his friends was...considerably more relaxing. 

He could do with a few less bug bites, but watching a family of Pikachu sunning themselves beside the river up close totally made the itching and sore muscles worth it. Without Ron or Hermione complaining about the food or lack of basic sanitary amenities, Harry didn’t bother going into town. He swam in the lake to clean off, cooked the food he caught for himself over a campfire, and generally forgot that the rest of the world existed. 

Sirius would be proud, Remus would be worried. You know, if Harry was stupid enough to tell them. 

Learning the forest’s secrets inspired him to tackle another place he, Ron, and Hermione mostly glanced over: Mt. Moon. Doing a deep exploration of the forest was fun, so obviously doing the same thing in a cave would be just as fun, right?

Wrong.

It was most decidedly not fun. He remembered the layout of Mt. Moon, or he thought he did. He’d spent enough time in the cave with Ron and Hermione to know the basic layout pretty well, but everywhere he turned he found some nook, some rock outcrop, some new crevice he couldn’t remember being there the last time. The whole adventure was a complete disaster, and he really should have just flown to Cerulean instead of taking the long way. 

It almost felt like a new cave. He checked his PokeTek but no, he was definitely in the depths of Mt. Moon. Hadn’t he and his friends spent days exploring (wandering around lost, same thing) the chilly home of many a Zubat, Geodude, and Paras? It certainly didn’t feel like their old haunt. The air hadn’t felt so...so empty before. Somehow, all the life was drained from the once-buzzing cave. 

He wondered if the changes could be attributed to a change in the inhabitants-had a colony of Diglett recently moved in? Harry hadn’t seen any reports about Diglett activity in the area during his cursory internet search into recent local events. Surely someone would have noticed changes this significant and reported them, either to the local police or the Elite Four--it was part of their job to monitor these kinds of things. Unless he’d somehow missed a major news story, there hadn’t been any major earthquake activity in the area that would account for so much changed geography in the cave system either. Maybe he’d be the first to report it when he got out. Something about that seemed...suspicious. Most trainers started their journey here. The cave constantly had foot traffic. But maybe the level of trainers was the problem. New trainers who hadn’t seen the cave before might not know how to recognize something out of place. 

Harry turned down a damp corridor he didn’t recognize at all, struggling with the steep downward slope and the slippery ground. Arcanine’s claws made a soft scraping sound as she tried to keep her balance next to him, and Harry let out a breath of relief when the ground finally evened out beneath them, though the tension didn’t leave Arcanine’s body. Her ears hadn’t stopped twitching since they entered Mt. Moon. She whined and nudged against his hand. She must’ve heard something to quiet for his ears. 

Harry strained to hear what she heard, but there was nothing. He focused so hard on listening he managed to trip over nothing and fall right into the wet rock to his left. For a second Harry thought he was growing crazy, but the low whine from Arcanine told him that no, the ground was actually trembling beneath his feet. Earthquake? He didn’t think so. What he felt wasn’t unlike the sense of vertigo he always got when training in Diglett cave. Harry exchanged a confused look with his Pokemon before continuing down the tunnel at a slower pace, keeping one hand against the unpleasantly damp stone. Something weird was going on here, and he wanted to know what it was. 

~*~

Harry couldn’t say he was surprised when he came across a grunt from the much-loathed Team Rocket sulking around in the dark. He’d assumed he’d seen the last of them after he, Ron, and Hermione practically blew up their base following a brief kidnapping the year before. Apparently that was not the case. Arcanine clearly shared his disgust and annoyance at the encounter, if the rare snarl ripping out of her chest served as any indication. The normally docile fire-type jumped into battle against the green-haired man’s three Koffing almost excited. Why most of Team Rocket’s members all had almost the exact same fucking Pokemon team had never, and would never, make sense to Harry. At least they were predictable and easy to beat, though it would annoy him quickly if he ran into many more. Battling hordes of Team Rocket underlings always felt a little like deja vu. 

Arcanine jumped swiftly around the narrow space, using the walls to gain momentum otherwise hard to gather in a small space with such slippery flooring. Her flames, the beautiful colors in them more suited to Pokemon Contests than Gym Battles, brought the temperature of the surrounding area up by twenty degrees. The Koffing weren’t the most well-trained Rocket Pokemon he’d fought before, but the minty-haired trainer made good use of the terrain. While Arcanine couldn’t avoid sliding through the mud, Koffing didn’t have any such handicap. The fast pace and constant motion of the battle kept both trainers on their toes. More than once Harry just barely ducked out of the way of debris or misfired attacks. 

~*~

When catching up with his mother days later, she practically demanded an explanation he couldn’t confidently give her. He could have sworn the ground in front of him was solid-albeit slippery. He stumbled away from a particularly nasty-looking Sludge then had to practically throw himself forward to keep from getting burned. As he set his weight on his front foot to avoid the potentially scarring injury, the entire cave shuddered around him. For a second Harry panicked, thinking that the cave was collapsing around him or somewhere else on the way to the exit-he really didn’t want to be buried alive, thanks. That worry was soon eclipsed by the stomach churning feeling of falling. Behind him, Arcanine jumped into the hole that just fucking magically opened into the cave floor. 

Harry landed with a loud ‘oof’ on something warm...and moving. Since when did Mt. Moon have warm Pokemon? Zubats were lukewarm at best, Graveler and Geodude always felt like they’d spent the day in shadow whether or not it was true, and Paras had the same body temperature as moss, which is to say cold and damp and nothing like whatever laid beneath him. Arcanine made him look bad, landing gracefully on the ground beside him. It only lasted a second before she skidded across the floor, discovering-to her barking chagrin-that the ground where they fell seemed even slipperier with mud than where they’d been before. 

Below him the Pokemon grunted. Wait...

Harry looked down to find a dazed man below him. A beautiful, very well built man who’s lap he’d very fortunately fallen into. Unfortunately, he meant. For a second Harry just stared at the unfairly attractive facial structure, barely fighting back the urge to see if the pale skin felt as soft as it looked, before Arcanine pulled him back to reality. Literally. She dragged him by the back of his shirt into a standing position and he flushed realizing that even his Pokemon had thought the moment awkward and uncomfortable. Great. Way to go, Harry. 

“Er, sorry about that. And thanks, you know, for breaking my fall.”

The stranger recovered quite well, standing and brushing off clothes that seemed to have somehow repelled the mud. “That’s quite alright. I should have expected as much with how...unusual...this cave is.”

Well then. Attractive stranger was also confused by completely bizarre cave activity. Common ground! Harry could work with that, right?

Wrong. Harry was staring again. Shit shit shit. Help. 

Bless Arcanine and her ability to understand human interactions. She barked at them both until the stranger’s expression shifted into a blinding smile and began dragging his long fingers through her fur. 

Horrible situation mostly avoided. Except not, because the cave shuddered again. Harry lost his balance and stumbled into Arcanine’s steady body. Dust and small rocks fell from the ceiling, the soft clattering against the walls and floor making the only noise in the cave. 

Pokemon activity wouldn’t cause that kind of absolute silence. “This can’t just be from a random colony of Diglett moving in,” Harry muttered more to himself than to his new companion. 

The stranger still heard. “No, I can’t imagine this is being caused by Diglett. I’d be convinced the area suffered frequent earthquakes if there was any indication that the terrain outside the cave was affected at all.”

“Someone would have reported that, though. It would be hard to miss.”

“Exactly. So far only the cave is taking any damage.”

“Well,” Harry said with a heavy sigh, “that bodes well.”

“Oh, definitely.”  Wasn’t that fun? The still-nameless man could quip back with sarcasm in a way the even Draco never mastered. Stupid pretty ferret. “Perhaps we should keep moving before someone else falls on our heads?”

Harry shrugged, focusing on crushing both the budding feeling of attraction and a second wave of embarrassment. He was not going down that road. His break-up with Draco still lived fresh in his mind, meaning he was not in any way prepared for a makeout session or rejection from the man. Either one would ruin his carefully constructed emotional stability. Fuck that. He pushed all thoughts of attractive-person-whose-name-he-still-didn’t-know out of his mind and started walking down the tunnel in the direction the other indicated. 

“I’m Tom by the way,” the stranger said, not pausing his walk as he extended his hand. 

“Harry,” he replied, and nothing more. The hand wrapped around his was warm and dry and callused to match his own. 

Harry could play it cool, he was sure. 

~*~

Harry could not, in fact, play it cool. Actually, he wasn’t even sure his previous self understood the meaning of the phrase. There was nothing cool about the almost-subtle-but-not-quite glances he kept stealing of the other, trying to commit the slope of the nose and the curve of his lips to memory in between the earthquakes that weren’t earthquakes. 

It was such a relief when Arcanine stopped a few feet in front of them and started growling into the dark. Harry strained to hear what she did. He watched her flicking ears and tried to focus on the muted sounds beyond his own too-loud heartbeat and Tom’s quiet breathing. 

Risking a few steps beyond Arcanine’s stopping point he finally heard something. A barely recognizable murmuring came from around the unusually sharp bend in the tunnel. Tom grabbed Harry’s shoulder as he was about to start walking again, tapping his finger twice against Harry’s PokeTek. Right, he should probably turn off the light before it gave them away--he didn’t have a Pokemon in his team that could use flash at the moment, so he’d opted for the flashlight application on the device his father and Uncle Sirius had designed. Harry played with the buttons for a minute until the light dimmed just enough that it wouldn’t draw attention but would keep them from bumping into each other while they pressed on. He felt more than saw Tom nod at the action before proceeding to take the lead.  

The closer their little trio inched forward, the more words he could make out. They weren’t words Harry liked the sound of. 

The voices drowned in a sudden screeching noise. He didn’t know what the hell it was, but it made his ears feel like they were bleeding. Arcanine whined, short and low. 

“Good thing the radio frequency is driving off all the Zubat. They were getting annoying.”

Radio frequency? Probably to block communications. Belatedly, Harry realized he hadn’t even thought of trying to contact the authorities when he realized the strangeness of Mt. Moon. Oops. 

“Shut up and keep working. The boss wants us to finish harvesting this moonstone by tomorrow.”

Harry peeked his head around the jagged rock where the tunnel bent back awkwardly. At the back of his mind, Harry remained hyper-aware of the heat of Tom against him as he pressed close to Harry’s back to get a better view. They looked into a large cavern, lit with special tech meant not to disturb more of the natural habitat than necessary. The thugs before them probably used the high-level research gear to minimize their chances of discovery. Probably stole the gear, too.

A handful of people wearing the familiar black Team Rocket uniform snipped at each other as they toggled with the buttons on several different machines Harry didn’t even try to guess the purpose of. Some of them looked like high-tech drills. At least that explained all the new territory in the cave. Team Rocket was hollowing out the rock to find the Moonstone. 

“Heh. There’s not much to worry about if you ask me. The Aurors are spread way too thin, and Champion Dumbledore is so ancient I’d be surprised if he managed to come out and investigate before the year is done.” Harry bristled at the tone of the man with spiky red hair. Dumbledore had his issues, but Harry still didn’t want some random criminal bad-mouthing his pseudo grandfather. 

“Would you three shut up and get back to work. I’m not interested in the boss tearing us all a new asshole again because you can’t keep your traps shut. Dumbledore may not be coming down himself, but his Elite Four are still a problem, and he can request help from the Champions of other regions. The Gym Leaders aren’t anything to sneeze at either, and we’re smack dab in the middle of two of the most powerful ones in the region.” So one of them actually had a brain. Surprising, considering Harry’s previous experience with Team Rocket. He’d been under the impression that anyone below the level of Executive in the organization was incapable of intelligent thought. 

“Yes, sir!”

The four who’d been busy flapping their lips went back to work operating the loud machines that the other six hadn’t bothered to stop. 

But the conversation didn’t answer Harry’s big question: why were they bothering to harvest moonstone? Team Rocket, in Harry’s experience, dealt almost entirely with black market Pokemon sales. They either stole Pokemon from trainers or took them illegally from the wild, then auctioned them off to the highest bidder. The scum of the earth then caged their purchase to torture or turn into ingredients. Comparatively, selling illegally harvested moonstone would be a waste of their time for the money made. They’d be better off catching the Zubat that annoyed them so much. 

Unless-

“Sir!” A newcomer interrupted Harry’s train of thought. Apparently a second entrance lay hidden somewhere behind the mountain of machinery. “My squad has completed another Clefairy round-up.”

Fuckity fucking fuck. Round-ups--poacher-speak for a large-scale collection of wild Pokemon, usually a cage full of 10-15 of the same species of Pokemon--were a big problem. Wild populations of Pokemon could easily be destroyed by them. Harry hadn’t realized round-up operations happened outside of Pokemon sanctuaries. And another, he’d said. How long had they been poaching Pokemon from Mt. Moon? Did they have any idea what kind of catastrophic damage it could cause?

“Good work, Squad Leader. That’s two days ahead of schedule. This should make fifteen, right?”

Fifteen. The word clanked around Harry’s suddenly empty head. Fifteen. Fifteen. Fifteen fifteen fifteen. 

Fuck waiting behind a rock for a time more convenient to battle. Fuck the lecture Hermione would definitely deliver when he told her about it. 

Harry jumped out from behind the rock wall, heedless of the hand Tom tangled in his shirt to try and hold him back. There was nothing but red in his ears and eyes and mouth as he barked out, “Flamethrower!”

Arcanine responded in an instant, their many years living together almost made the need for a command nonexistent. Normally, he wouldn’t have a Pokemon attack humans directly, as it was a great way to be arrested for assault, but Team Rocket had a special place in his heart. Also, they weren’t ones to pull punches, so he wouldn’t either. 

Spiky Red opened his mouth again, crying out stupidly, “Shit, who’s the kid?” 

Kid. Right. He isn’t that short, or that young looking! Stupid, no good, theiving grunts. Grow a fucking brain! “Arcanine, take them down!”

She jumped into the well-lit center of the recently hollowed chamber. The crooks released their Pokemon all at once, completely foregoing the official Battle Rules. In seconds, a dozen Ekans and Koffing surrounded Arcanine. Harry unhappily noted that each of the Pokemon looked stronger than those of the green-haired newbie he battled earlier. 

Just breathe, a voice that sounded horribly similar to Hermione’s echoed in his head. He faced a major disadvantage being so outnumbered, and Tom showed no sign of leaving their hiding spot any time soon. Sweat gathers at Harry’s temples, lower back, and hands. Maybe he should have stayed back to observe like the perfectly level-headed trainer everyone knew he wasn’t. 

But he hadn’t. Think, Potter. 

Harry’s non-plan backfired immediately. The room was too small for Arcanine to get the upper hand. She barely had enough room to bat a Koffing away from her face. How were they supposed to battle with so many bodies in the way?

Harry and Arcanine closed ranks. Even if their opponents fought without loyalty to motivate them, even if the trainers were lowly Team Rocket grunts, being so outnumbered was a quick way to lose. Still, they’d faced worse odds before and come out on top. 

Arcanine was a fierce companion, and a seasoned-if not eager-battler. She would not allow the pressure of numbers to ruin her focus. Harry ignored the other voice in his head reminding him that he didn’t have brilliant Hermione and reliable Ron watching his back this time. For the first time since starting his solo journey, Harry regretted breaking up their golden trio. 

The long-time companions did their best to beat back the crowd around them. Arcanine sank her teeth into Ekans after Ekans, blasted back one Koffing after another with powerful bursts of fire. It wasn’t enough. 

One of the Ekans struck out to bite Harry. Arcanine moved her body between them, taking the full force of Ekans’ poison fangs. For a second Harry thought they’d lost, panicked trying to figure out how he’d shield her without enough room to even call upon another Pokemon for assistance. He was wrong. Arcanine shook her head violently, forcing the Ekans from her neck. She used a weakened Flamethrower to drive the Team Rocket Pokemon back, but as soon as she let up on the attack another row of Pokemon replaced the first.  

They were stuck. The strategy Harry usually used when battling with Arcanine was completely ineffective with such limited mobility, and retreating wasn’t an option without risking being chased out or leading Team Rocket to Tom. If they kept this up it would only be a matter of time before Arcanine fainted. No matter where she moved there were more opponents to take a swipe or a bite at her back or legs. Not to mention Arcanine was too focused on protecting him to make much of an impact on their enemies. 

Fine then. If he couldn’t make space for Arcanine to move properly, he’d attack with a Pokemon that could function while literally walking through a wall. “Gengar, let’s go!” Harry called. Two could play the numbers game. “Double Team!”

Suddenly there were as many Gengar as there were Koffing. The squeeze was tight for a minute, but the distraction let Arcanine blast a free space through Team Rocket’s Pokemon so Harry could regroup. He backed up a bit, trying to give his Pokemon as much space as he could while getting himself out of the line of fire so Arcanine would stop splitting her focus. 

Harry didn’t make it more than a step when suddenly Gengar slammed into the wall beside him. Three Houndoom advanced on them both, moving through the slightest gaps in the literal wall Team Rocket’s Pokemon made before them. Their approaching angle forced Harry away from the tunnel he’d entered from until his back hit the rough hewn rock. 

Where had they come from, and how the hell was he going to deal with Pokemon that could use Dark attacks? Fucking hell shitty fucking fuck. Why did it have to be a bad Potter Luck day? 

Arcanine jumped back from her struggle with two Ekans to stand between Harry and the approaching Pokemon, favoring her right leg. On Harry’s other side, Gengar pushed himself up slowly, the cracks in the wall giving away just how hard he’d hit the wall. The Houndoom were strong, and they had the type advantage against his Gengar. Even the Ekans and Koffing Arcanine knocked out with her ruthless attacks were up and ready to go again. Barely any of the Pokemon returned to their PokeBalls after fainting. 

Harry was screwed unless he thought of something fast. His other Pokemon were exhausted from battling the agitated Graveler and Zubats in the upper levels all day, and there wasn’t enough room for his Flying Pokemon to move. He could have Arcanine make them dizzy by running circles around them with Extreme Speed, but her leg was hurt, and she was more likely to hurt herself slamming into a wall than actually affect their enemies if she could even manage enough space to complete the technique. Gengar was still too dazed to get back in the battle, so having him put the entire room to sleep with Hypnosis was a no-go. Holy Arceus, why hadn’t he done that to start? Because his brain, aka Hermione, was off gallivanting with Professor Oak. 

Arcanine’s injury didn’t affect her size. She stood nearly two feet taller than the Houndoom; maybe she could intimidate them before they attacked again. “Arcanine, Roa-”

“Hydro Pump, Nagini!”

A forceful blast of water pushed the Houndoom back before Harry could finish barking out his latest stroke of genius. He watched in blatant awe as the attack knocked two of the three Houndoom into a wall just as they had done to Gengar moments before. The third backed off, nervous under the glares of Arcanine and Gengar without backup. 

Harry whirled around to find Tom standing in the opening of the cave beside a stunning Milotic. Fucking pretty trainer matching his stupid pretty Pokemon. Harry wasn’t overly familiar with Pokemon from the Hoenn Region, having spent most of his life in Johto and Kanto, but he recognized a strong Pokemon when he saw one. Stupid Tom didn’t need protecting afterall. Jerk. 

Gengar hip-checked Harry, forcing him from his internal rant. The prankster cackled at Harry’s expression, ready to get back in the battle. Good, at least one of them hadn’t gotten distracted at a horribly inappropriate time by things he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about. 

“Arcanine, return,” Harry whispered, not wanting to keep her out in the open where she could be injured any further. Now that Gengar was back in the game and Tom guarded his other side, Harry felt it better for her to rest. “Gengar,” he called under his breath, “use Shadow Ball on the rocks behind Team Rocket. I want them nice and distracted.”

His Gengar huffed a laugh, always so amused by Harry, and did as told. The resulting cloud of dust and debris filled the room, blinding everyone. Hoping that the lowered visibility would by Gengar some leeway, he shouted “Hypnosis” in the general direction of the Ghost Type between coughs. Even if Gengar could only get a few of Team Rocket’s Pokemon to go into a deep sleep, it would help even out the playing field. The grunts would probably recall a Pokemon incapable of battling, which would make it easier for Tom and Harry to maneuver the battlefield. Hopefully Gengar would cooperate with him and leave Tom and his Milotic--Nagini, he’d called her--out of the attack. 

“Dream Eater, Gengar,” He yelled, unsure where his Pokemon was now that there little room was full of Smog, Smokescreen, and dust. He heard Gengar’s laugh and saw the glow of red light through the cloudy air. Fingers crossed the Potter luck was working for him at the moment. 

A minute later, the tell-tale sound of Pokemon returning to Pokeballs reassured Harry that something had worked. He started inching his way towards the spot he knew Tom stood, trying his best not to trip over something in the low visibility. The battle might be temporarily in his favor, but he wanted an easier escape route if the tide turned again. 

Gengar appeared in front of him as he pressed himself against the cave wall, narrowly avoiding being taken out by a Koffing clumsily dodging another powerful Hydro Pump. He wished he had Gengar’s vision and was able to see more than a few feet in front of his face. 

Harry ducked around the rock that had concealed him before and stopped just short of running into his temporary partner. The tunnel loomed behind them as a convenient route for escape, and they were in a comfortable position to double battle what remained of Team Rocket’s Pokemon. 

Of course, that’s when a Wheezing and Arbok join the others, and one of the Houndoom finally recovered from the shock of being slammed into a wall of rock. Fan. Tastic. Harry wasn’t planning on giving them time to regroup. 

Tom seemed to be on the same page, Nagini attacking with renewed vigor. Her serpentine body wrapped with the Arbok and wrestled for dominance. If Harry weren’t so focused on working around the type advantage Houndoom had on Gengar he would have been mesmerized by the movement. Instead he got to work, he and Gengar lashed out against the Wheezing and few remaining Koffing while dodging any attacks from the Houndoom when Nagini wasn’t able to keep it off Gengar’s back. 

Once they really began working together, the battle was almost easy. Gengar and Nagini complemented each other well against this set of opponents. With a few more efficient maneuvers they won. 

Harry spared only a few minutes locating the length of rope in his bag. He got to work tying each stunned grunt up. The police would find Harry’s gift with functional bows. Tom watched curiously as Harry tapped out a message on his PokeTek for Officer Jenny, the prototype version he wore considerably slimmer than the current market model hidden under the sleeve of Tom’s shirt.  Jenny would be quick to respond, since whatever method Team Rocket employed with radio waves didn’t seem to work blocking the communication abilities of his PokeTek. They’d worked together to take down a cell of Team Rocket before he and his friends parted ways to pursue their different goals, so he knew she’d take his claims seriously. 

While Tom checked Nagini over for any hidden injuries, Harry brought Arcanine out of her PokeBall once again so he could fix her up with an antidote and a lemonade. It wasn’t a perfect fix, but the patch job would work until he managed to bring her to a Pokemon Center. He moved on to Gengar’s wounds after Arcanine perked up. His other Pokemon had had several hours to sleep off the chaos of the morning battles in their Pokeballs, so he should be able to continue on through the rest of the cave instead of turning back. 

After all, he wanted to finish tearing apart Team Rocket’s operation at Mt. Moon before moving on to the next town in his journey. Somewhere deeper in the mountain there were at least a dozen trapped Clefairy. He couldn’t just leave them in the hands of Team Rocket. He had a promise to a dead Kangaskan to keep. 

Harry startled when Tom cleared his throat to gain his attention, having almost forgotten he was there. Harry turned from his mechanical inspection of Gengar’s wounds to find the grey-eyed man smirking down at him. 

“Not too tired from that battle, are you Harry?”

And damn, the way he said Harry’s name was sinful. Was he being flirted with? He was almost certain he was being flirted with. One didn’t just pick up this kind of teasing with a relative stranger for nothing, right?

“Is that your macho way of hinting that you need a break, Tom?”

He expected anything but the laugh his response earned him. Perhaps he based too much of his assumptions concerning attractive strangers on how his interactions with Draco always went. The ferret was ruining his life even now. 

“I assure you I have more stamina than that.”

Yeah, that was definitely flirting. Even he wasn’t so oblivious as to miss it, thank you very much. 

“Then by all means, Mr. Stamina, lead the way.” Wait, was he flirting back? That couldn’t be right. Pretty boys were meant to be admired from afar. He’d learned his lesson with Draco. And Cedric. And Charlie Weasley. Hadn’t he?

Tom hummed and gave him an expectant look. “What?” Harry asked, defensive even to his own ears. 

“You’re the one with the bloodhound.”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended on her behalf or not.”

Tom didn’t look impressed with that particular reply, so Harry turned to Arcanine and asked, “Think you can sniff them out?”

Arcanine gave him a look as if asking him if that was a serious question, then cocked her head from side to side while searching for the trail. She started down a tunnel he hadn’t seen before, obscured by one of the large drilling machines. Harry followed her without question, uninterested in whatever new snipe Tom would have for him. To his credit, Tom simply fell into step next to Harry with his Milotic bringing up the rear. 

Now that he knew what he was looking for, Harry saw the tell-tale signs of drilling in the rock illuminated by his PokeTek as they walked through the winding tunnel. He wondered how they’d managed to drill so deep without anyone reporting suspicious activity in the area. It had obviously been affecting the geography of the cave, not to mention the frequent, suspect seismic activity. Those radio waves probably had something to do with it. 

“Not many people take the time to really explore this cave. Most trainers passing through the area are rookies scared of the baby Zubat they run across at the entrance. I don’t think they’d be interested in exploring the depths like you evidently are here for.”

Had he said that out loud? Because Harry definitely hadn’t meant to say that out loud. His goal was to avoid and further awkward conversation. 

“It doesn’t help that Dumbledore is having so much trouble getting around these days. It’s likely that some trainers have filed reports, but the response time is slow. Without enough information to label the situation as a priority, the authorities aren’t going to check it out when they have so many other things to do,” Tom continued without any prompting. “Kanto’s Elite Four can only handle so many of the Champion’s duties on top of their own, and there’s a reason the duties fall to him. Some things are simply too difficult for anyone but a Champion to handle. That’s why the list of required qualifications is so long.”

Well, okay then. Harry wanted to be offended on Dumbledore’s behalf, but Tom only spoke the truth. “That still doesn’t really explain why the police haven’t looked into it. Aren’t the police supposed to investigate reports of suspicious activity, and then call in the Champion to investigate himself or delegate the job if the situation is beyond what they can handle? At least, that’s how it worked the last time,” he added the last part under his breath. He remembered how he, Ron, and Hermione fought against Team Rocket on Cinnabar Island with the police force. Was he forgetting something?

“Theoretically that’s what’s supposed to happen, but my understanding is that with Dumbledore so close to retirement now that his illness and old age are preventing him from moving around as much as he used to, the police force is covering more territory than usual. Not to mention the recent purge of Aurors for that big corruption scandal last year. There simply aren’t enough resources at the moment, so things are being overlooked.”

Harry grimaced. “Meaning Team Rocket can get away with harming even more Pokemon than normal. Great. Just Great.”

“Exactly. The decrease in police enforcement has emboldened them, which is why it’s so important that Pokemon trainers step up and help out, as you and I are doing now. It’s the responsibility of all Pokemon lovers to keep people like Team Rocket from getting what they want. Especially when the proper authorities have failed.”

Harry snorted, “You sound like some vigilante in an action movie.”

Tom eyed him from the side, “Does that make you my damsel in distress?”

For a second Harry was glad for how dark it was despite the light of his PokeTek. The dimness hid his reddening face sight. Stupid flirty pretty boys. 

Instead of focusing on their embarrassing banter Harry returned to the heavier part of their discussion. Tom’s words made sense and all, but it didn’t make Harry feel any better. Actually, it kind of made him feel worse. Dumbledore really needed to choose a successor already if he wasn’t capable of doing his damn job. Harry loved the old coot like a grandfather, but he needed to finally accept he couldn’t do everything he used to. 

He opened his mouth to keep complaining but slammed it shut when Arcanine pressed back against him, effectively stopping him and Tom from going any further. Instead he said, “Something’s behind the pile of boulders.” Which was obvious given something behind the boulders glowed. 

“We won’t find out what it is standing around here,” Tom replied and stepped around Arcanine to keep going.

No fucking shit they wouldn’t find out what it was just standing around here. Excuse him for trying to go into an unknown situation beside a virtual stranger with some kind of game plan after the clusterfuck his running into a situation without one just caused. And Hermione said he liked to jump into situations prematurely. At least he was trying not to repeat the same mistakes. 

Harry jogged (actually jogged because of the man’s long legs) to catch up to where Tom and his Milotic were just turning the next corner, Arcanine silent at his side. Gengar continued to float overhead keeping an eye on things where he could react quickest. 

The room smelled like blood and sweat. The cries of distressed Pokemon filled Harry’s ears, echoing off the walls so they seemed to come from all sides.  The rest of the world went quiet. 

The grunt who’d given his report about the Clefairy earlier oversaw the three others. The underlings held Shockers--long sticks with electrified points that delivered painfully strong electric shocks to anyone they touch--pointed towards a cage full of Cleffa and Clefairy. 

Harry couldn’t remember if he said anything or not, didn’t feel Tom’s hand on his arm pulling him out of the way of a Shocker suddenly pointed at him. The world slowed. He saw his Pokemon lunging at Team Rocket, presumably from words he couldn’t remember speaking, while he slipped from the hands holding him back. Tom could do whatever he wanted, Harry needed to move. 

One second he watched as Gengar knocked out a particularly strong Wheezing, his Pokemon familiar with the feeling of being stuck in a cage, the next his hands wrapped around the silver bars of the wheeled cage. Something hit his shoulder--a Shocker--and he crumbled to the ground in a familiar pain. It stopped as suddenly as it started. Harry forced himself to stand again despite how winded he felt, not bothering to figure out what stopped the pain. His bad hand shook worse than normal, ruining his ability to do anything but make a fist. He cried in some mixture of pain and frustration, unable to stop the tears from spilling down his face as he tried and failed to open the cage. Stupid old injuries. Stupid Team Rocket. Stupid Harry not figuring out a plan. He’d learned how to pick locks for a situation like this without thinking he’d not be able to use his hand well enough to act. 

What else could he do? What was he good at?

Force. When in doubt, Harry was very good at using extreme force to get what he wanted. 

The thought crossed his mind, and in the next moment Typhlosian roared at his side. One second the bars were whole, in the next the lock was a melted, mangled mess under Typhlosian’s nearly-unbearable flame. His Pokemon ripped the molten lock  from the cage door, the force causing the door to bang open. 

The pink Pokemon cowered as far from the cage opening as possible, probably conditioned to fear humans. It made Harry even angrier, but he couldn’t let them see that. He took a loud breath and forced his face to relax into a smile. 

“You’re safe now,” he said, and backed away. 

Behind him something was happening, he could feel the movement of bodies and the blasts of powerful attacks hitting their marks. Intellectually he knew it was happening, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the pink Pokemon slowly getting out of the cage. Typhlosian disappeared after seeing the Cleffa and Clefairy start to move. Harry knew he’d run head first into the chaos of battle, but he couldn’t think around the pain in his hand and the need to get the captured Pokemon to safety. 

A few of the Pokemon straggled behind, clearly injured. “I have some medicine, if you can get yourself out of that cage. C’mon. You can do it. That’s right. Here,” he pulled a Super Potion out of his bag. “It’ll sting just a little, but then you’ll feel better.”

One of the Cleffa bravely stuck its arm out first. The little guy winced as the spray started healing the deep gash but didn’t make a sound. The others stepped up for help after. 

Harry shoved the remaining potion in his bag as something hit him in the back of the head. He watched the world go black for a few moments. When the spots faded from his vision, he found himself on the hard ground surrounded by Cleffa and Clafairy. They wiggled their bruised fingers in a shared rhythm. Harry called out a warning, though if Tom or his Pokemon heard it was up in the air. Harry’s ears were ringing so loud he couldn’t tell if he shouted or whispered the words. 

The group Metronome became a blinding light that flooding the room for several long minutes before dissipating. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lighting, Harry looked out into the cave to see several unconscious Team Rocket members, and beyond them Tom trapped under both Nagini and Arcanine who’d jumped in to shield him from the blast. Gengar peeked out of solid rock just behind Harry before resolidifying and pulling the trainer to his feet. Arcanine staggered away from Tom and slowly across the room to nuzzle against both Harry and Gengar, ever the mother hen. 

With an attentiveness that helped him defeat Dumbledore and his Elite Four, Harry took in the state of both Gengar and Arcanine. For a second he let himself regret pushing them to keep going instead of taking them to heal up at the Pokemon Center. But then the minute was over, and he felt their shared triumph at having freed at least some of the Pokemon Team Rocket tried to steal. 

He returned Gengar and Arcanine to their PokeBalls for a well-deserved rest before starting to look around for his wayward Typhlosian. He spotted him as he rolled out of his hiding place behind one of many large boulders and returned himself to his PokeBall, the energy he recovered after battling hordes of agitated Pokemon earlier spent. 

Remembering that he wasn’t the only one in the room, again, he went over to check on Tom, stepping over the bodies of Team Rocket as he went. Hopefully the police would arrive soon to take care of them, because Harry didn’t have any more rope. 

“You alright?” Harry asked, his voice wavering as his arm spasmed again.

“A warning would have been appreciated, but yes.”

Bastard. “I did warn you.”

“Warning me as an attack is happening is hardly helpful. Still, we managed to deal with the riff-raff. I’d call that a job well done.”

“I need to figure out how to get out of this damn labyrinth before my Pokemon get any more injured.”

“I tried to warn you.”

“Okay, no need to be a jerk about it.” 

Tom didn’t bother to look apologetic, but he did offer to escort Harry the rest of the way to Cerulean City so his Pokemon could spend the night under the tender care of the local Nurse Joy.

Fine, so maybe he wasn’t a complete jerk.

Harry spent the next few hours dragging his feet through the mud, taking turns with Tom battling back the swarms of Zubat. In between, Tom tried to coax Harry into conversation, which ended in bickering nearly every time. Honestly, Harry was too tired to even try to think past his immediate reaction to whatever Tom said. Hermione would die if she heard what was coming out of his mouth. 

For nearly all of the last hour Harry kept silent, too tired to participate anymore, as Tom spouted off fact after fact about the most random things. Harry swore he could have cried in relief when he saw the light of the mouth of the cave. With a sudden burst of energy he ran the last few steps and finally stepped into the blinding sun. The city laid only a ten minute walk away. Tom finally stopped talking (he was almost as bad as Hermione, honestly, but in some ways worse because he didn’t care about hurting Harry’s feelings, the prick) and Harry regained the bounce in his step. 

Tom disappeared into the crowded streets of Cerulean City as soon as the red roof of the Pokemon Center was in sight. Harry would have been annoyed at the mysterious action if he wasn’t so tired and concerned about his exhausted Pokemon. Maybe this time he really did push them too far. 

Nurse Joy told him as much, giving him a long, very unwanted scolding before she took his Pokemon to be treated. Without anything else to do, Harry set out to find some of the famous Cerulean crawfish. It would be a few days before he and his Pokemon were ready to leave again.