A Whole New World

"Shin-goooo!" Usagi Tsukino looked around as she scrambled up the rocks around Mt. Moon. "Where are you? It's dinner time!"

While Usagi didn't like to miss a meal—food had always been one of her top priorities—the truth was the sun had started to set, and she was getting worried about her dumb brother.

"Come on, Shingo, this isn't funny!"

When she received no response, the frustrated girl jumped to the ground and made her way around to the cave entrance. It was dark inside; she fished in her pocket for a flashlight and clicked it on, but the beam barely penetrated the pitch black interior.

"Uh… Shingo? You in here?" Usagi took a step toward the mouth of the cave. "You know we're not supposed to go inside Mt. Moon alone…"

Abruptly, the ground beneath her feet began to shake; she squealed, flailed her arms, and ended by falling spectacularly on her butt. What looked like a mound of dirt with eyes popped up from the earth and blinked at her.

"Dig!"

Usagi breathed a sigh of relief; it was just a wild Diglett. She watched as it tunneled back into the ground and disappeared, probably to find its friends. And speaking of friends…

"Hey, Usagi, you found anything?"

Her best friend Naru rounded the bend at a jog, red curls bouncing. Usagi thought briefly of her own stick-straight, yellow hair, then dismissed it; there were more important things to think about!

"I haven't seen a trace of him," the girl now admitted, standing up and brushing off her skirt. "What an idiot, to go wandering around this late…"

"It's kind of creepy out here," Naru said softly, moving closer to Usagi. "I'm glad I live in Cerulean instead of along Route 4, like you guys."

The Tsukino family had bought a small house on the short path from Mt. Moon to Cerulean City before Usagi was born. Apparently, her parents had been in some financial trouble at the time, and the low cost had made the commute to Cerulean worthwhile.

Cerulean had expanded since then, so really they almost lived in the suburbs. Unfortunately, the house was still right by the network of caves collectively known as Mt. Moon.

"Maybe we should just go back," Naru suggested. "He might be hiding in his closet or something."

"Yeah," Usagi agreed quickly. "It's probably one of his stupid jokes."

At least, that was what she hoped. Shingo could be a pain sometimes, but he was her baby brother.

As they turned toward home, Usagi shot one last glance over her shoulder. The sky had gone from pale blue to a hazy orange, but the sunset held no charm for her this evening.

Where are you, Shingo?

                                    - - - - - - - -

Dinner had been tense and uncomfortable, with Usagi's mother alternately scolding her daughter and bemoaning the fate of her only son. Finally, her father declared that enough was enough. They'd look for him in the morning; if he had an ounce of sense, Shingo would stay where he was until someone found him.

Naru's mother had come to pick her up, instead of continuing with the sleepover they had planned, leaving Usagi to stare at her ceiling and think disturbing thoughts in the dark.

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore. Eyes smarting, she threw back the covers, swung her feet out of bed and tiptoed to her closet. Usagi shoved her feet into a pair of sneakers and shrugged on a jacket, then made her way silently down the hall and out of the house.

When she reached the foot of Mt. Moon, she pulled out the flashlight she had stuck in her pajama pocket and turned it on, swishing the beam around. It wasn't really necessary, as tonight was nearly a full moon, but its presence comforted her.

Would Shingo go into the caves? No—he was only eight, but he had had "Stay out of Mt. Moon!" drilled into him for most of his life. Yet they had last seen him heading that direction. So where had he gone?

Maybe… Shingo had climbed the mountain? Usagi had no idea why he would, or where the foolish thought had come from. But something within her tugged and pushed and whispered that it was right.

But what kind of idiot climbs Mt. Moon? she wondered. After all, there's nothing at the top.

Or was there? Her mother had once mentioned some sort of tiny shop for travelers near the summit, but Usagi had never heard anything specific.

Maybe he saw something, and started to climb, then was attacked by a wild Pokémon and headed for the shop?

The Pokémon in this area weren't very aggressive, though, and there was no reason Shingo would know about the shop. Besides, she was pretty sure the shop was only accessible by traveling through the caves. So much for that theory…

Out of ideas and out of patience, Usagi swallowed and stepped forward into the dark cave.

If you're there, Shingo—I'm coming!

                                             - - - - - - - -

So far she had come across surprisingly few Pokémon, but her nerves were already fraying from the encounters.

Not only that, she had tripped while walking and skinned her palms. Now her knees were all dirty! How was she going to explain this to her parents?

And these are my only pajamas, too! Usagi thought irritably. "Darn you, Shingo," she said aloud. Her voice echoed disturbingly through the tunnel, and she flinched.

No Pokémon appeared, however, and after a moment the girl relaxed.

You're twelve, she chided herself. You shouldn't be afraid of bats… or bugs… or creepy-crawly things…

Usagi was distracted from these depressing thoughts when she rounded a corner and was hit in the face with a shaft of moonlight.

Had she reached the other side of the mountain so soon?

Cautiously, the girl moved out of the cave and took a deep breath of clear night air. But what was this?

"The shop!" Usagi whispered excitedly. Then, looking past it, "Shingo!"

Her brother was curled up on the ground in a small field behind the little store. His back was to a large boulder, and two pale Pokémon pranced around it.

The Clefairy of Mt. Moon! Usagi realized. Doing their weird dance to the moon, or whatever.

Weren't Clefairy rare, though? If she could catch one… But she was no trainer. She didn't even have a Poké Ball on her.

As she watched, one of the Clefairy tripped and fell. It started to cry, and the other quickly stopped dancing. Disturbed by the sound, Shingo stirred, opening his eyes.

The hurt Clefairy tried to get up, but without the help of its partner, it couldn't flee.

Poor thing, thought Usagi. She stepped forward into the field, calling out to her brother softly.

"Shingo!"

The boy looked up quickly, startled. "Usagi? What are you doing up here?"

"Looking for you," she started to say, but was interrupted by Shingo.

"And can you help this Clefairy? Apparently it's really clumsy—kinda like you—so most of the other Clefairy won't dance with it."

How did Shingo know that? And how dare he call her clumsy! Usagi marched over to the boulder and hoisted her brother up, then turned to the Clefairy.

"Look, its friend just abandoned it," Usagi exclaimed. "That's awful."

"Shh!" hissed Shingo. "Somebody lives in the shop, they'll hear us if we're too loud."

"Hey, what's that you're holding?"

"Huh?"

Both of them looked down at the object clutched in Shingo's right hand.

"What're you carrying a dirty old rock around for?" demanded Usagi. "Is that why you came up here?"

"No!" the other protested. "I—hey, wait a second…"

He turned the rock over in his hands, and Usagi shone the flashlight onto it.

"Shingo… is that… a Moon Stone?"

"I—I think so."

"Where'd you find it?"

Her brother shook his head silently, indicating he didn't know… or couldn't remember.

"Clefairy…"

Usagi knelt (her pajamas were already dirty anyway) and scooped up the unhappy Pokémon.

"Poor little thing," she cooed. "Look how small it is, Shingo."

"You think it's a baby or somethin'?"

"No, you twit, then it would be a Cleffa. But it's still kinda small for a Clefairy."

The two siblings pondered this.

"Maybe it's a girl," Shingo suggested. "Are girl Clefairy smaller than the guys?"

"I don't know," admitted Usagi. "We'd have to look it up."

"Can we take it home?"

Usagi sighed. "Shingo, it's a wild Pokémon. Neither one of us is a trainer; we don't know how to take care of a Clefairy. What it eats, exercise, sleeping habits…"

"Wow, that's really mature of you," Shingo remarked wryly. "I figured you'd just say 'go ahead' without thinking about it."

"You little brat!"

"Clefairy, fairy," the Pokémon muttered, burrowing closer to Usagi. "Fairy…"

Seeing his sister's indecision, Shingo pounced.

"The little guy—girl, whatever—doesn't really have any friends, you know. It must get pretty lonely out here…"

"Okay, okay!" Usagi rolled her eyes. "But Mom and Dad'll have the final say, you know. And they won't be too happy with us for this."

"Yeah, I know." Rubbing his nose thoughtfully, Shingo looked around. "How'd you get up here, anyway?"

"Uh…" Reluctant to admit she had no idea, Usagi fumbled for an answer. "Same way you did, of course!"

"Really? Cuz I don't remember how I got here. I feel like I've been dreaming a long time…"

Usagi grimaced. "Look, we'll find you a psychologist tomorrow. For now, we gotta get home before anyone wakes up and notices we're both missing."

"Okay," Shingo agreed readily. "Uh, you lead."

"What a baby!"