A Docking and Discovery

When Dark awoke, she noticed her blue Lapras clock was blinking 11:45. Hurrying to get dressed, she packed all her things away. The SS Lapras would be docking any moment at Cinnabar Island, her destination. She strapped her pokeballs to their chain and met Kaumi and Cass in the hallway not five minutes later.

Cass flipped gently the bundle of yen that they had acquired in an awkward fantasy-like state. She imagined where she would go and what she would buy. Dark�s finger snapping stirred her, and she emerged from her dream, back to normal.

"Huh?"

"There was just an announcement: we have to go to the main entrance/exit in the banquet hall and prepare for arrival."

Kaumi led off and the two followed. Dark fingered and tumbled the orange stone around in her pocket. It was valuable, and, at that, could it be one of those stones like the Zapdos and Vileplume? Kaumi and Cass were oblivious when Dark saw the captain�s daughter and went off to the side.

"Corey. I need you to tell me something."

The bright-eyed girl looked up. "What is it?"

Dark�s hand slid from her pocket and presented the stone. "What is this stone�?"

Corey smiled. She appeared to be a sage for such a small child. "Well, I think�" She paused. "Okay, when I was younger, my parents told me a nursery rhyme. Daddy said to always use it to remember mother by. It was about�some�" She was apparently struggling against her reluctant memory. "Stones. These pokemon stones. I think that�s Beedrill�s. I always pictured it as an orange or yellow stone. Look at the insignia."

She was baffled by the child�s education compared to her father�s, and glanced at the stone. Two large engraved ovals peered eerily up at her. Or were they eyes�?

"The eyes of Beedrill�You�re pretty smart."

Corey smiled once more. "I hafta go, daddy wanted me back before noon. Baa-ie!"

Dark nodded as she dashed off down the hall. Taking a passage led Dark back right next to Cass, who hadn�t even noticed her cousin had been missing. She re-pocketed the stone and soon reached the entrance/exit with her companions.

Everyone was filed into a neat queue newly joined by the trio. And when it was time, the door opened to spill its people out onto the red-rock island.

"This is it. Cinnabar." Kaumi took a deep breath in and put his foot down onto the land. He was really proud to have reached the island.

Dark and Cass, on the other hand, stood on either side of him, hands to their eyes. Cass wailed, "Where�s Kamisama?!"

Kaumi fell over and sweatdropped. Recovering himself, he stated the obvious: "Right there." Straight ahead towered a large red mountain. Trees outlined its base and clouds drifted warily around the top. Its mightiness dared passers-by to climb it.

"Alas, we have found the God above other, thy mountain lord!" recited Cass, who was overly enthusiastic about the whole deal. Dark raised a brow.

It was about then that Kaumi realized what had been bothering him. "Hey Shiki, Cass, exactly why were the Shadow Gang and Team Dream coming to Cinnabar anyway?"

"It can�t be the same reason as us, those stones aren�t so important to them," Dark stated quickly. "Let�s keep an eye out. They could be up to something big."

On their way to the foot of the mountain, the group deemed it best to stop at an information kiosk. Dark picked up a trainer�s manual and scoped out the area for the gym and info on the leader. Cass grabbed a brochure on where to find the best materials for climbing Kamisama, and Kaumi looked into a pamphlet on the great mountain.

"Dark, you planning on battling here? Do we have time?" Dark�s cousin inquired.

"Yes, I want to even if I can�t go to the mountain with you. I�d rather work on my badges."

Cass sighed. "You�re so close to the Dream League, Dark�I wish I were that far along."

"You�ll get better. Remember, there is something about a Johto and Orange League, too. If you don�t make it to ours, you have a chance."

"But the Dream League is prime time! The best! I want to at least battle there once in my life."

"You�ll have plenty of years for that." Dark went back to the subject. "We should go separate ways to prepare for this whole thing. I�m going to the gym; Cass can get our gear; Kaumi can�uh�"

"I�ll find out about the history and pokemon of the mountain. I�d like to get to know the place before risking my life�on�it�" He gulped when he glanced back to Kamisama.

"Right," Cass proclaimed, "We�ll meet back at this kiosk at 5:00. Let�s go."

Kaumi headed down the street, up some steps, and across the way to find himself at the Cinnabar Library Research Center of History. It would be a boring job, but it had to be done.

"Kamisama�Kamisama�K-a-m-i�s-a-m-a�" He searched through the alphabetical shelves of books about Cinnabar. "Oh, here�s a few." He began to read.

The small reference didn�t do much good, but later on in his work, he discovered much more. The pokemon of the Kamisama area tended to be Growlithe, Arcanine, Koffing, Grimer, Muk, Ponyta, and Magmar. The volcano was also listed as extinct, and predicted to erupt sometime in the next ten years. The cliffs were referred to most often as "deadly" or "dangerous", and all this made Kaumi wonder if he really wanted to make the climb.

Kaumi stood and pushed in his chair to his desk. Then he saw something he least expected. There were two members of Team Dream across the way sifting falsely through books. They were discussing something. Kaumi jogged behind a shelf for a better chance to understand their plotting. He ducked down on the floor.

"�Kris, you know we have to be careful. If we�re followed, Carmen won�t be happy. Besides, I don�t even know for sure where this new place is."

"Don�t worry about it. I�m positive of the new base�s location. There�s a famous pokemon laboratory here that was rebuilt after the mountain erupted some 20 or 30 years ago. That�s it. You go through the front hall and�"

"Excuse me, young man." Kaumi heard a stern voice behind him. He looked over his shoulder. "Would you please get off this floor! You�re making quite a sight here."

He sweatdropped and stood. "Yeah�sorry�"

Upon leaving the library, he noted that it was nearly time to meet back. "Why me�always caught in an embarrassing place�and now�I hafta climb this mountain because Cass wants a damn rock�why me�?" he grumbled.

Cass thumbed through the latest mountain gear at a nice little shop she had found next to the PokeCenter. She had already claimed three nice backpacks and some metal cleats for the group, and now she needed some spikes and ropes.

Suddenly, someone slammed into her from behind. She held tight to her gear and turned around, ready to yell. "Hey, you just-"

Cass cut herself off when she saw the man she faced. He was young and cute, and perhaps her age (this she hoped). He had black hair that spiked up and fell in front of his left eye. Speaking of which, his eyes were a dark cerulean that peeked out from behind brown-rimmed sunglasses. He carried a load of climbing gear. "I�m sorry miss, did I hurt you?" His voice was soothing and nice. Cass was lost in a trance. "Miss?"

"Oh!" She crashed back to reality with pink cheeks. "No, I�m fine."

He cracked a handsome smile. "That�s good. I�m Hayami Kusa, professional mountain climber."

"Professional�?"

"Yep, sure am. See that beauty out there?" He nodded his head out the window at Kamisama. "I�ve braved that mountain king three times and am on my way to do it again."

"You must be pretty good. I�m heading out there myself with my cousin and a friend�"

"It�s incredible and tricky at times. Hey�I didn�t catch your name."

"Oh, it�s Cass Silvers."

"Nice to meet you, Cass. That�s a beautiful name�Like my mother�s, Cassidy. That�s awfully coincidental."

"Yeah." She felt herself blushing again. "Would you�like to come with my friends and I on our climb? We could use help, and you�re a professional and all�"

His beautiful smile appeared again. "Great! I�d love to. I meant to ask, but what�s your reason for going?"

"A stone�For me, that is. I won�t get into it. My cousin, Dark, wants to get some pokemon, and Kaumi needs to overcome his fear�"

The conversation continued for a few more minutes, and the two got to know each other. Hayami was from Pewter City, was 18 years old, and had loved climbing all his life. Pokemon wasn�t really his thing, but her had one that helped him out on his journeys- Machoke.

Hayami helped Cass find the last items on her list. They bought what they had gone in for, packed it up, and began back to the Kiosk to meet the others.

Meanwhile, Dark was just getting to the gym, and was about to find out a bit about the boastful young Dante Blazer.