The entrance to Mt. Moon yawned open like the mouth of a sleeping beast—dark, silent, and cold.
Skylar stood at the edge of the stone threshold, peering into the darkness beyond. The air inside was cool, still, and carried the faint scent of wet rock and iron. Behind him, Misty tightened her grip on her backpack straps.
—"It's colder than I expected," she said. "Like… unnaturally so."
Skylar nodded. Even Charmander's tail flame, usually a warm beacon, flickered with less energy than usual—as if the air itself was draining it.
Still, they stepped forward.
With a soft fwoosh, Skylar activated a portable lantern, its orange glow illuminating the first few meters of the narrow stone tunnel. The walls were jagged, worn by time and pressure, and ancient carvings—barely visible—lined certain sections of the stone. Not letters. Not human.
Just marks.
—"This place is older than Pewter City," Skylar muttered. "Way older."
They moved in deeper, Charmander leading the way. Starmie hovered quietly at Misty's side, humming gently, as if listening for echoes only it could hear.
About twenty minutes into their trek, they passed through a collapsed section and into a wider chamber—open and circular, with a natural skylight dripping pale moonlight onto a raised platform of jagged stone in the center.
It wasn't on any map.
And that wasn't what caught Skylar's attention.
It was what lay in the center of that platform.
A black, fractured crater—circular, precise, and too smooth to be natural.
—"This… was a landing site," Skylar whispered.
Misty crouched beside it, brushing away debris.
—"Not just that. Something burned into the rock. Look at the scorch marks."
Skylar reached out and touched the stone. It was warm.
—"This wasn't thousands of years ago. This is recent."
Just then, Charmander growled low.
Gardevoir, hovering near the shadows, tensed.
Something moved behind the outer ring of stone.
The shadows pulsed.
Then clicked.
Something crawled from the black—its body twisted, hunched. A Zubat, but wrong. Its wings were tattered, veins pulsing unnaturally, and its eyes glowed violet like infected gems.
—"What… happened to it?" Misty murmured.
Another joined it.
Then three more.
Skylar backed up slowly. "Get ready—"
The Zubat shrieked, and the sound echoed with a warping distortion, like something not meant for this world.
Then they attacked.
—"Charmander—Ember! Now!"
Flames burst through the cave, pushing the first two Zubat back, but the others dodged midair, fangs bared.
—"Starmie—Rapid Spin!"
Starmie launched forward, spinning through the air and striking one of the infected Zubat down, but it hissed and kept fighting—barely phased.
—"These things aren't normal!" Misty shouted.
Skylar gritted his teeth. "They've been corrupted. Something touched them."
—"The crater?" she asked.
He nodded. "It didn't just land. It changed things."
The fight escalated, the corrupted Zubat swarming faster and with more erratic movements than any wild encounter they'd faced before. Charmander was panting now, his tail brighter than ever as he unleashed another Dragon Breath, taking down one—but a second struck his side with a violent Toxic Fang.
—"Charmander!" Skylar called, rushing to his side.
Charmander staggered—but something changed in his eyes.
He roared, tail blazing, and a surge of fire rippled over his body.
—"Wait—Skylar!" Misty gasped.
His light burst brighter.
His shape began to shift.
Claws lengthened. His tail flame grew fierce.
Charmander was evolving.
As the last Zubat fell, scorched and writhing, Charmeleon stood in the firelit chamber—taller, sharper, his gaze fierce and unwavering.
Skylar stared at him, stunned.
—"You… protected us."
Charmeleon growled low—and nodded.
But in the silence that followed, a new sound emerged.
Dripping.
From the crater.
Something was still down there.
Something that hadn't yet crawled into the light.