Chapter 36 - Rock Tunnel Exploration Part-2!

The Machop all had their blood drained from their bodies from what Warren could inspect. Their corpses were shriveled up from the blood loss; their eyes were like empty black holes. Gan couldn't be bothered to count the number of corpses, but he speculated that there were about 20 to 30 dead Machop here!

"That Golbat from before must have done all of this; this was surely its doing." Machop was a humanoid Pokemon, it was an easy target for Golbat. It had the type advantage all-around against it, so what better target than Machop to eat here?

"Machop? The little muscular fighting Pokemon?" Warren covered his nose with his forearm and asked.

"Yeah, that one, they were all reduced to this state after being attacked by that Golbat... or there could possibly be more than just one..." Gan could only sigh, he didn't see it often but scenes like this would appear more in the future.

As Gan was looking at the bodies, he saw many items among the dead bodies. Gan had his Geodude pick the items up, as he pointed in their direction.

There were 3 items, but he inspected them to see if they were authentic.

[Silk Scarf: Increases the power of Normal-type moves.]

[Shell Bell: An item to be held by a Pokémon. The holder's HP is restored a little every time it inflicts damage.]

[Soothe Bell: An item to be held by a Pokémon. It is a bell with a comforting chime that calms the holder and makes it friendly.]

"This Golbat must have collected these items, they do have an attraction to shiny things, but this [Silk Scarf]." Gan whispered and said.

"It really was collecting items, are any of them rare?" Warren looked at the different bells and wondered.

"Not really, one makes your Pokemon friendly, while the other restore your Pokemon's health during a battle but by a little." Gan didn't hide it and told Warren outright.

"During battle? I think Team Rocket's Merit Hall sells something similar." Warren tried ot recount the item but couldn't remember.

"Do you want any of them?" Gan asked.

"Nah, my Pokemon are friendly enough, they get the job done. And that item is probably sold at the Team Rocket's Merit hall, I don't need it." Warren waved his hand, he didn't put the [Silk Scarf] in his eyes, he only deemed it as regular White Scarf.

The [Silk Scarf] was surprisingly still White as if it just came out of the washing machine. It was an unstainable white cloth that couldn't be stained by anything. The dirt, mud, blood, or anything that got on it would just fall off.

Gan felt like cringing seeing so many dead Machop, but he powered through it and tried not to vomit. He thoroughly looked over the Machop Corpses until he saw a Machop gripping something in its cold grasp.

[Black Belt: Increases the power of Fighting-type moves.]

'Damn, so many items in one place!' Gan thought.

He had Geodude pry it from its hand before searching the corpses again. Gan found nothing after another thorough search, so he summoned Koffing and had it burn all of the Machop Bodies.

"Let's go, there isn't anything here." Gan felt elated after finding so many items, but those dead Machop didn't sit well with him.

They both contiuned on throughout the cave, they ran into more Geodude but they didn't bother with Gan and Warren. However, they ran into Onix and it was looking for trouble, so they had no choice but to take it down.

Gan caught it with a Pokeball and they both contiuned onward. After walking for 10 minutes; they decided to take a break. Gan sat on a rock and relaxed while Warren stood around the cave peering around.

"I'm finding myself going on an adventure to places I never would have explored if I didn't meet you." Warren smiled as he looked around the cave, before looking towards Gan.

"What can I say, I'm the adventurous type." Gan smiled and said.

"Honestly, you don't seem like someone who would join Team Rocket. It almost seems like you should be challenging those Gym Leaders to take on the Elite 4 later or something." Warren said jokingly.

"....."

"Haha, maybe I will in the future, haha!" Gan finally said after a bit of silence.

"To be a champion, now that's the life; they get to decide a lot that goes on in Kanto. Imagine a Team Rocket Member being the champion in secret, the benefits would be astonishing." Warren could only imagine it but he didn't see anything like this ever happening.

"Who knows, maybe one day it....."

"Hey~!!" Before Gan could finish, they heard Arlo's voice coming their way. They looked and saw him running over, his expression grave.

"Man, you know how to ruin a good conversation, don't you?" Warren looked at Arlo coldly.

Gan gaze also landed on Arlo, his buŧŧ was smoking for some reason.

"I need help, I really wanna catch that Pokemon but it one shotted my Ekans!" Arlo's hair was in disarray as he was panted in swift succession.

"Oh, and what was the name of this Pokemon?" Gan asked curiously.

"I don't know, but it has a skull on its face and bone in its hand." Arlo wasn't very knowledgeable about Pokemon.

Arlo began to relay what happened. He spotted this Pokemon and wanted to catch it, but it had a friend ȧssisting him. He said it didn't matter because it told its partner to stand back as it took Arlo and his Ekans on itself.

Its partner was the reason behind Arlo's smokey behind, he described it as an orange-red lizard with fire on its tail. Warren's expression suddenly changed after hearing this description, and he asked where they were.

Gan wanted to continue on this route in hopes of finding a Machop, he had a feeling that they were down this way. Arlo was loud, so his voice would probably attract some unwanted attention, and sure enough, it did.

The rock that Gan was sitting on started to move and Gan was shocked. He quickly got away from the strange rock he was sitting on for a while now. Looking back at it, eyes appeared on this Rock and 4 arms emerged out of its side.

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|Name: Graveler

|Type: Ground/Rock

|Level: 25

|Gender: Female

|Ability: Rock Head

|Nature: Calm

|Moves: Tackle| Mud Sport| Rock Polish| Rock Throw| Rollout| Smack Down| Bulldoze| Self-Destruct|

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Gan's expression turned grave, it had an explosion move. If this thing was feeling like it couldn't win, it would blow up and take everyone with it!

"Okay, let's calm down. We're leaving, Graveler." Gan wanted to catch it, but why risk it when he'll have one soon?

Graveler didn't say anything by uttering its name, it just kept a close on Gan and his group. Gan and his group slowly back away from Graveler, and it didn't attack them. Once they were out of sight, Graveler resumed its statue-like sleep state.

"Phew, that was close." He didn't need a bomb going off in this cave; that was the last he wanted. No one said anything for a while, but Arlo unconsciously went towards the location he found those 2 Pokemon.

Gan and Warren followed him; they may as well at this point. Gan would need to head back in that direction of that Graveler because he had a feeling that Machop hung around that area.

According to Arlo, the Pokemon used its bone like some sort of boomerang. All it took was one hit from that bone and his Ekans was done. Warren wasn't interested in the boneheaded Pokemon, but he wanted to see it. His main interest was the orange-red Pokemon Arlo was talking about; Gan already knew what the 2 Pokemon were from their descriptions.

There were no Zubat or Golbat in this area, which explained why Arlo hadn't been attacked. He didn't understand how dangerous it was to run into such a Pokemon with only having an under-leveled Ekans.

Eventually, they came to the area Arlo was talking about. There were many rocky pillars and mound over here, it was good for making a den fo some Pokemon. Gan and company snuck over, they hid behind a few of these mounds and looked on.

"There they are... the both of them!" Arlo stared at the boneheaded Pokemon with dėsɨrė. Gan and Warren looked, it was just as Gan had thought.

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|Name: Cubone

|Type: Ground

|Level: 23

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Rock Head

|Potential: ★★★

|Moves: Growl| Tail Whip| Bone Club| Bonemerang| Headbutt| Leer| Focus Energy| Rage|

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|Name: Charmander

|Type: Fire

|Level: 22

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Blaze

|Potential: ★★★

|Nature: Timid

|Moves: Growl| Scratch| Ember| Smoke Screen| Dragon Rage|

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Gan was stunned, they were both 3-star Pokemon; all in one place. The 2 seemed to be moving rocks around a den, this appeared to be their home. A Cubone and Charmander were buddies, now that was something you wouldn't see every day.

"Charmander! I've always wanted one, and now it's here of all place!?" Warren looked at Charmander with pure joy, he had always wanted one of these when he was a kid!

'Well, it looks like they both found something they want from here..' Gan also look on, but they couldn't waste time here, it was time to capture these 2.